Probation ordered after fatal Highway 75 collision

FALLS CITY – Ty Goodell, 20, of Delaware, Okla., was sentenced to 18 months probation for misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in the accidental traffic death of a Lincoln man.

Deputy Richardson County Attorney Samantha Scheitel said Goodell told investigators he was driving on one hour’s sleep. His pickup truck and flatbed trailer crossed the centerline on Highway 75 near the Kansas border. The truck and trailer continued across another traffic lane before it collided with a pickup driven by 69-year-old Robert Hansen.

 

District Judge Julie Smith said it was an accident, but an accident that was caused by Goodell’s negligence.

Smith: “You shouldn’t have been behind the wheel as tired as you were.”

She ordered the probation term and 15 days of jail beginning Dec. 17 after Goodell’s college semester has ended.

At sentencing Tuesday, Goodell apologized to Hansen’s family.

An obituary published online says Hanson was survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.