3 dead, including 2 kids, after fiery crash in downtown Omaha
Police investigating speed, alcohol as possible factors in crash
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Police are investigating a fiery two-vehicle crash that killed three people, including two children, early Friday morning.
Omaha Police said in an update Friday afternoon that they were investigating whether speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.
Emergency personnel were called to the accident near Gene Leahy Mall at 10th and Douglas streets at about 1:20 a.m. Friday.
According to the afternoon update from police, a man in a 2017 Subaru Outback had just turned left from 10th Street onto Douglas Street when he was rear-ended by a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
As a result of the impact, the Jeep struck a tree and rolled; and the Subaru hit a light pole.
“Both cars caught fire and were engulfed in flames,” the OPD report states.
Three occupants of the Jeep were injured: The 33-year-old driver, the 38-year-old man in the passenger seat, and a child in the vehicle were taken to Nebraska Medicine for treatment. They have since been taken to a specialized burn unit in another state, according to police.
Police said that two children in the Jeep and the driver of the Subaru died at the scene.
On Friday night, loved ones gathered at the scene of the crash for a candlelight vigil.
While police have not identified the children killed, a family friend told 6 News that they were two-weeks-old and 5-years-old.
Many at the vigil are part of the Native American community. They said when hard times come they find it important to stick together.
“This is a tragedy, what happened. When it’s somebody that you know and how bad it was, it affects everybody,” said Elizabeth Parker, a family friend and organizer of the vigil.
Crash investigators are consulting with the Douglas County Attorney’s Office on pending charges for the Jeep driver.
The eastbound entrance ramp at 10th Street to I-480 was closed for nearly seven hours Friday after the crash.
OPD Lt. Danny Flynn told 6 news that scenes like this are always difficult to deal with, but even harder when children are involved.
“It’s going to get emotional. We all have families; we all have brothers, sisters, parents. It’s difficult on everybody,” he said. “Omaha Police Department has a peer support unit our department has implemented over the last several years; and any kind of critical incident, we have people that will reach out talk to the officers — make sure they’re doing OK, see how they’re handing things.”
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