Two Nebraska teens killed in separate crashes on Christmas Day
By LORI PILGER – Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. (TNS)
Two teenagers died in separate crashes on Christmas Day, one in a rollover in rural Buffalo County and the other in a two-vehicle crash in Grand Island.
The first happened just before 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The Grand Island Police Department said officers were sent to South Blaine Street and West Lamar Avenue on a two-vehicle crash and found 19-year-old Thomas Villa-Estrada dead.
According to the preliminary investigation, he was driving a Dodge Charger north on South Blaine Street when he collided with a Nissan Altima driven by 67-year-old Pedro Chavez Rodriguez, who was turning onto Blaine Street.
Investigators believe Villa-Estrada had been speeding, causing his car to travel more than 250 feet north and into the front yard of a home where the car struck a tree.
Grand Island Police say Rodriguez, the other driver, left the scene before officers got there, but they found his car about a mile away and they arrested him on suspicion of no operator’s license and leaving the scene of a fatal motor vehicle collision.
The other crash happened southeast of Pleasanton.
The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office said the single-vehicle crash on a rural county gravel road was reported at about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday.
In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said the preliminary investigation found that a Ford F-150 pickup with four people inside had been driving east near Cherry Road when it entered the north ditch, rolled and struck a power pole.
The driver, a 17-year-old boy, was ejected from the pickup and died at the scene. He has not yet been identified.
Three other boys, all 15, were taken from the scene to Kearney-area hospitals. According to the Sheriff’s Office, all of the occupants were from the Ravenna area.
Investigations are ongoing in both crashes.
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