US Senate leader taken to hospital after car crash

Troopers say Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been taken to the hospital in an ambulance after what appears to be a rear-end crash on an interstate highway through Las Vegas.

Nevada Highway Patrol Office spokesman Jeremie Elliott says he doesn't know Reid's condition after the crash, which happened yesterday afternoon.

The freeway runs parallel to the Las Vegas Strip.

Elliott says six vehicles were involved in the apparent chain-reaction crash, including two Las Vegas police vehicles, two civilian vehicle and two Capitol Police vehicles.

Elliott says two lanes were closed and four tow trucks were summoned. It's not clear whether anyone else was injured. Officials in Reid's office said it wasn't immediately clear where the Democratic Senator was headed.

The 72-year-old Reid spoke earlier in the day at a Las Vegas ceremony celebrating the National Atomic Testing Museum, which was officially named a "national" museum yesterday.

He was also due to speak to the editorial board of Spanish-language newspaper El Tiempo at 2:30 p.m., according to editor Hernando Amaya.

Reid's wife Landra was speaking at an event featuring first lady Michelle Obama at roughly the time the crash happened, but she made no mention of the incident.