Sheriff Reports Interstate 80 Fatality
Passenger says Omaha man was unresponsive before car left the lane of traffic
By News Channel NebraskaPLATTSMOUTH – Cass County Sheriff William Breuggemann reports a fatality accident on Interstate 80.
Greenwood and Ashland fire and rescue crews responded Friday shortly after 10 p.m. to a one-vehicle accident involving a Toyota RAV 4 driven by 68-year-old Thomas Hickey of Omaha.
A passenger, 66-year-old Rhonda Chantry, told investigators that Hickey became unresponsive at the wheel and did not respond when she yelled for him to hit the brakes.
The car crossed the median and the westbound lanes of the interstate before going through a fence and striking a ravine.
A sheriff’s deputy was first on the scene and received assistance from a state trooper to extricate Hickey and begin CPR. EMS shocked him three times with a defibrillator and he was taken by medical helicopter to Bergan Mercy, where he was pronounced dead.
Chantry was transported by rescue squad with a possible back injury.