Police: Driver in Nebraska crash that killed 6 was drunk

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An investigation into a crash that killed six people in southeastern Nebraska last month shows the driver of the car was drunk, police said in a news release.

Lincoln police said Monday that the results from a toxicology report show 26-year-old Jonathan Kurth, of Lincoln, had at the time of the crash a blood alcohol content of .211 — more than 2½ times the legal driving limit of .08.

Police also said that electronic data collected from the car showed it was traveling 100 mph (161 kph) in the moments before it crashed into a tree along a residential street where the speed limit is 25 mph (40 kph).

Police were first alerted to the early morning Oct. 2 crash when one passenger’s cellphone automatically alerted dispatchers that the phone’s owner had been in a crash and was not responding.

Kurth and four male passengers died at the scene: Octavias Farr, 21; Jonathan Koch, 22; Nicholas Bisesi, 22; and Benjamin Lenagh, 23. A fifth passenger, Cassie Brenner, 24, died later at a hospital.

All of the dead were residents of Lincoln except Lenagh, who was from Omaha.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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