LINCOLN, Neb.—One of the drivers in a crash that killed two women and injured 20 bystanders watching classic cars cruise down a Nebraska street tested positive for marijuana, police said.
The 18-year-old Omaha man was driving a Ford Taurus that smashed into a Toyota Corolla carrying the two women who were killed Sunday night in Lincoln. He tested positive for drug use after the crash, but a breathalyzer test for alcohol use was negative.
The impact killed both women in the Toyota and sent both cars onto the sidewalk, where they struck a crowd of onlookers.
The 18-year-old had not been ticketed as of Tuesday, but the crash report said he was driving over the 40 mph speed limit when he went through a yellow light on O Street in Lincoln before the crash. Police have said neither of the cars in the crash was involved in the cruising event.
Hospital officials said only two of the 20 people who were hurt remained hospitalized Tuesday, with one in serious condition and the other in fair condition.
Police said that 20-year-old Emily Siebenhor and 22-year-old Edith Hermosillo died in the crash. They were both from Cozad and living in Lincoln where Siebenhor was a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The victims’ junior high cross country coach and high school counselor, Dustin Favinger, told the Lincoln Journal Star that they were great kids.
“It’s never easy to lose anybody and when you lose someone who is young, it’s that much more difficult and mind boggling to try and wrap your head around,” Favinger said. “They were just two really wonderful kids and it’s a big loss to our world to have them gone.”
