Friday’s post-Thanksgiving winter storm across Nebraska wreaked havoc on drivers with the Nebraska State Patrol alone responding to 14 accidents, including 2 that resulted in 3 fatalities.
The first fatal crash claimed 2 lives and involved 3 vehicles a little after 2:00 Friday afternoon on Interstate 80 about 5 miles east of North Platte.
The State Patrol’s preliminary investigation showed that a westbound pickup lost control, crossed the median and hit 2 eastbound vehicles – an SUV and a semi.
The two occupants of the pickup, 27-year old driver Lezter Juarez and 25-year old passenger Janice Arriaga-Martinez, were ejected and pronounced dead at the scene. Both were from Lincoln.
All four occupants of the SUV were transported initially to Great Plains Health in North Platte with serious injuries, but 3 were later transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The semi driver was not injured.
I-80 was closed in both directions for more than 6 hours, in part because of the extensive debris and partly due to the need to plow snow before traffic could resume.
State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas confirmed that the debris completely covered both eastbound lanes and included scattered human remains, further complicating the cleanup.
Hundreds of cars were trapped on the freeway by the closure and weren’t updated for long periods of time. Thomas says that’s because the trooper given that during was called away to a second fatal accident on I-80 about 40 miles east near Gothenburg.
Thomas says the Gothenburg area accident happened around 5:45 when a westbound pickup lost control in winter driving conditions and rolled. The driver, 53-year old Joseph Dodson of North Platte, was ejected.
A passenger and a trooper attempted life-saving measures until EMS arrived, but Dodson was pronounced dead at Gothenburg Health Hospital. The passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries.