Five simultaneous accidents reported on icy Otoe County highways

NEBRASKA CITY – Otoe County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched Sunday morning to five simultaneous   accidents on icy roads.

The first accident was on Highway 2 at the Missouri River bridge at Nebraska City. An F150 pickup driven by Evan Keim, 16, of Lincoln slid on ice while attempting to change lanes. The pickup collided with a Fed Ex semi-trailer headed in the same direction. No injuries were reported, but the pickup sustained an estimated $20,000 in damage.

While deputies were on scene at the river bridge, a second accident was reported on Highway 75 north of Nebraska City.

A Chevrolet pickup driven by Richard Reeves, 53, of Nebraska City and a Oldsmobile Regency driven by Jose Lopez, 47, of South Carolina collided. An accident report says both vehicles were headed in the same direction, but Reeves was traveling slower and Lopez could not slow down to avoid a collision due to ice.

The third accident was also at 9:30 a.m. A U-Haul vehicle was eastbound on Highway 2, when the driver, 28-year-old Weylin Oakes of Utah lost control on ice. The U-Haul jackknifed and rolled over on its side.

Highway 2 was the scene of a fourth accident, also at 9:30 a.m.

A vehicle driven by 74-year-old Jerry Waggoner of York and a Nissan driven by 30-year-old Owen Walker of Arizona collided near 34 Road.

The sheriff’s office says Walker was attempting to slow down and lost control on the ice. His vehicle went into a spin and was facing oncoming traffic when it came to rest. Waggoner told investigators he was unable to stop and slid into the front bumper on the spun-out Nissan.

The fifth accident was reported minutes later at 9:45 a.m. It was also near Highway 2 and Road 34, where a minivan driven by Denise Anderson, 39, of Montana and a minivan driven by 34-year-old Christopher Hinton of Illinois collided.

The accident report says Anderson’s minivan slid on ice and hit the Hinton minivan in the rear bumper.

Deputy James Parsons handled three of the accident investigations, deputy Joe Rehrs handled two and deputy Mike Holland investigated the remaining one.