Driver Dies Of Accident Injuries
A Council Bluffs man died in an accident on Interstate 80 in Sarpy County Thursday morning.
There were actually two accidents. The first one happened around 6 a.m. on eastbound I-80 east of Highway 50 and involved two semis. The crash slowed traffic.
About 45 minutes later, a pickup stopped in the left lane of eastbound I-80 west of Highway 50 due to the earlier accident was rear-ended by a car. The impact set the car’s engine on fire. Witnesses removed both drivers from their vehicles before the fire spread because fuel was leaking from the ruptured gas tank of the pickup.
The driver of the car, 29-year-old Andrew Shutters, was flown by medical helicopter to Creighton University Medical Center where he died.
The driver of the pickup, 49-year-old Ivan Cunningham of Lincoln, was taken to CUMC for treatment of injuries not considered to be life threatening.
Sarpy County Sheriff's Department Lt. Russ Zeeb said of the initial accident, one semi veered into the second semi, which wound up on its side in a steep ditch. The driver of the first truck was taken to the hospital in critical condition, though his injuries were not thought to be life threatening. A passenger in the sleeper cab of was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The driver of the struck semi was not hurt.
