YORK, Neb. — A sheriff’s K9, a fleeing suspect, and an uninvolved motorist all died in a chain reaction crash with a train caused by the man who stole a sheriff’s vehicle. Law enforcement authorities chased the man before the fatality occurred in southeastern Nebraska.
The fatal crash took place Tuesday night, after a York County sheriff’s deputy tried to stop a pickup truck reported to be driving erratically, U.S. News reported.
The truck fled from police at speeds exceeding 100 mph before stopping minutes later, according to investigators.
The suspect exited the truck and claimed to have a gun, before jumping into a sheriff’s patrol unit, which was carrying a K9, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect then fled in the sheriff’s vehicle with the K9 presumably unable to access the suspect due to a barrier in the vehicle, although that is not confirmed.
The sheriff’s office said the man stopped the marked K9 unit on railroad tracks as a train approached. However, he re-entered the patrol vehicle and fled just prior to the train barreling through. As a result, law enforcement personnel were stranded on one side of the tracks while the suspect fled on the other side, U.S. News reported.
Yet rather than continuing to flee, the suspect reversed course and sped back toward the moving train, according to investigators.
The suspect rammed into the back of another vehicle that had stopped for the train. The vehicular assault pushed the vehicle into the moving train, killing its driver. The suspect and sheriff’s K9 also died in the criminal action, according to investigators.
Law enforcement authorities did not immediately release the names of those killed.
