We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Concrete truck driver in fatal crash found not guilty

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — The driver of a loaded concrete truck that last year tipped onto a car near Omaha, killing two people, has been found not guilty of two misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide counts.

Television station KETV reports that a jury found 21-year-old Austin Holloway, of Fremont, not guilty on Friday.

Holloway was on trial for the Oct. 25 deaths of Michael Dearden and Phillip Hertel, both 23, who were killed when Holloway’s truck tipped while turning at a La Vista intersection.

Prosecutors argued that Holloway was going too fast for the turn. But Holloway’s attorneys said Holloway’s employer, Consolidated Concrete, overloaded the truck, causing it to tip. They also showed the truck hadn’t been cleaned of dried concrete in months and that the company had ignored Holloway’s written complaints before the crash that the truck was unsafe.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File