A Lincoln man was killed in the two-vehicle accident that happened just west of Blue Springs in southeast Nebraska on Thursday afternoon.
The Gage County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim today as 41-year-old Harry Hart, who was driving his 2006 Chevrolet Malibu north from Blue Springs when it was involved in a collision with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, headed the opposite direction. That vehicle was driven by 63-year-old Lora Lee Stohs, of Marsyville, Kansas. She was airlifted by medical helicopter to Bryan LGH West, in Lincoln.
Hart’s father was traveling in a separate vehicle just ahead of his son and was on his way home to Omaha, when the collision happened.
Gage County Sheriff Millard Gustafson says initial investigation shows that the vehicle driven south by Stohs crossed the center line of U.S. Highway 77, with the left part of her vehicle colliding with the left front of the vehicle driven by Hart.
Hart’s vehicle flipped over, coming to rest on its roof in the north ditch of the highway. Hart was believed to have been killed, instantly. The other vehicle spun after the collision, and came to rest along the south edge of the highway.
Rescue personnel used extrication equipment to free Stohs from her vehicle. She was treated at the scene and stabilized, before being airlifted by a medical helicopter. A 12-year-old grandson of Stohs was taken by a Beatrice Fire and Rescue crew to Bryan LGH West. Another grandson was transported by ambulance to Beatrice Community Hospital.
Along with Gage County law officers, a Nebraska State Patrol accident reconstruction expert went to the scene, along with EMS and fire personnel from Beatrice, Wymore and Blue Springs. Wymore Police also assisted at the scene.
U.S. Highway 77 was closed in the area of the accident, and was reopened by about 5 p.m. While the highway was closed, traffic was detoured west, along Nebraska Highway 112.
Sheriff’s authorities say both drivers and the passengers in the collision were using safety restraints.
By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice
