Authorities ID 6 killed in southeastern Nebraska crash
Oct 4, 2022, 10:35 AM | Updated: 12:25 pm
Kayla Kelly grieves as mourners gather and lay flowers and gifts at the site of a deadly car crash during an impromptu memorial service on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in Lincoln, Neb. Police in Nebraska said a passenger’s cellphone automatically alerted responders after a car hit the tree in a crash that killed all of its young occupants. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)
(Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police in Nebraska have identified the six young people killed in a car crash that was first reported when a passenger’s cellphone automatically alerted dispatchers.
The Honda Accord hit a tree in a residential neighborhood in Lincoln early Sunday, investigators said.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports the driver was 26-year-old Jonathan Kurth, of Lincoln.
Four passengers died at the scene: Octavias Farr, age 21; Jonathan Koch, age 22; Nicholas Bisesi, age 22; and Benjamin Lenagh, age 23. A fifth passenger, Cassie Brenner, age 24, died later at a hospital.
All of the dead were residents of Lincoln except Lenagh, who was from Omaha.
Police are still investigating the cause of the early Sunday crash, but they say it was reported by an iPhone that detected the impact and called responders automatically when the phone’s owner didn’t respond.
Investigators don’t know how fast the car was traveling when it left the road, but say it was clearly speeding when it hit a mailbox then crashed into a large tree. The posted speed limit on the street is 25 mph.
Kurth and Farr were in the front seats and were wearing seat belts when the crash occurred, police said. The others were in the back seat and not wearing seat belts, investigators said.
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