The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) has asked the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office to investigate a pursuit that began in Saunders County and ended in Sarpy County. At the conclusion of the pursuit, the suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No shots were fired by law enforcement during the incident.

The pursuit began just before 3:00 p.m. when the Saunders County Sheriff’s Department began pursuing a suspect in connection with a theft in Wahoo. The suspect’s vehicle, a black Ford F-150, fled at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour on Highway 92.

As the vehicle entered the Omaha metro area, the truck continued at a high rate of speed and at times drove against oncoming traffic. NSP became the primary agency in the pursuit at approximately 3:08 p.m. near 192^nd and Harrison. Two minutes later, the vehicle entered a residential neighborhood and came to a stop with a flat rear tire near 181^st and Gertrude St. At the point, a trooper heard a single gunshot.

Upon approaching the vehicle, the trooper found the driver with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The driver of the truck was later pronounced deceased at the scene. There were two women in the vehicle as well. Neither woman was injured.

At the request of NSP, the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting the investigation.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have charged a Nebraska man with abuse of a vulnerable adult after his bedridden, malnourished and badly injured wife died at their home.

The Lincoln man was charged Wednesday as a John Doe because officials don’t believe either of the names he goes by is his real one. A judge set his bail at $250,000 and scheduled his next hearing for Jan 23. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said investigators are trying to piece together the man’s real identity and determine whether he is in the country legally.

According to prosecutors, the defendant called 911 early on Dec. 19 and said that his wife, 68-year-old Delanie Manning, was unconscious and wasn’t breathing, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. Medics were unable to revive her.

The man said Manning had been bedridden due to medical issues over the past six months and that he brought her water, soda pop and meals but had moved her out of the bed only three times since June. He told investigators that he wanted to take her to a hospital or a doctor, but that he didn’t because she was scared doctors would “put her away,” an arrest warrant affidavit said.

The defendant said his wife couldn’t chew or swallow food in her final three days. He told her the day before she died that she looked bad and he was going to call 911, but he was afraid he would get in trouble, according to the affidavit.

An autopsy showed that Manning was malnourished, had a broken left femur, multiple ulcers and exposed bone on her right ankle and knee.

CHAMBERS, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a 93-year-old woman died in an explosion and fire at her home in northern Nebraska.

The Holt County attorney’s office says firefighters, medics and sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home near Chambers on Sunday evening. Investigators blamed the blast on a propane gas release inside the residence.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy determined she died of injuries suffered in the explosion and fire. Her name hasn’t been released.

The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a crash in northwest Lincoln that followed a pursuit by the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash occurred just after 8:00 a.m. today when Sheriff’s Deputies were pursuing a stolen vehicle on Interstate 80. The 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer was traveling westbound on I-80 when it attempted to exit onto NW 48^th street at mile marker 395. The vehicle failed to navigate the turn and rolled. All four occupants of the vehicle were ejected.

One of the occupants, Zayne Yost, 14, of Lincoln, was pronounced deceased at the scene. The three other occupants of the vehicle, Andrew Fisher, 16, Darius Hayes, 14, and Anthony Moreno, 15, were all transported to Bryan Medical Center and Bryan West Campus. At this time, none of their injuries are expected to be life-threatening. Investigators believe Hayes was driving at the time of the crash.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has requested the Nebraska State Patrol to conduct an investigation into the incident. That investigation is ongoing.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A grand jury investigating the death of an inmate who fell 11 times in his cell has found no criminal wrongdoing by officials.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Tony D. Perez died last summer at a Lincoln hospital of blunt force head injuries. State law requires a grand jury investigation when someone dies in custody or while being arrested.

Perez been arrested Aug. 1 at the Fillmore County Courthouse, where he’d shown up drunk for a hearing. He was taken to the county jail and two days later to the Saline County Jail. He had a seizure that night and eventually was taken to the prison department’s Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln.

The jury report says he suffered three falls at the center. He was taken to a Lincoln hospital and then declared brain-dead the morning of Aug. 5.

A review of the video showed Perez had fallen 11 times in his cell.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Rhode Island man arrested on a drug charge has been sentenced to time in a Nebraska jail.

Lancaster County District Court records say 51-year-old John Carlson, of Cranston, Rhode Island, pleaded no contest last week and was found guilty after prosecutors lowered the charge to possession of more than a pound of marijuana. He was given 180 days and fined $2,500.

Carlson and Richard Wilkinson, of Damascus, Oregon, were arrested in November last year after authorities found drugs in a van Wilkinson was driving on Interstate 80 in Lincoln. The drugs: 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of marijuana, 3,500 marijuana seeds, vials of hash oil and 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms) of shatter, which is a concentrated form of the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Wilkinson has pleaded not guilty to possession of controlled substances for sale and is awaiting trial.

HARTINGTON, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a driver was killed and four people were injured in a three-vehicle collision in northeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred Tuesday night on U.S. Highway 81 in Cedar County. Authorities say 82-year-old Marjorie Novak, of Hartington, was headed south in her pickup truck when it struck a northbound vehicle driven by a Yankton, South Dakota, man. A second northbound vehicle, driven by 52-year-old Brenda Saltzman, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, then ran into the rear of the first.

Authorities say Novak was pronounced dead at the scene. The Yankton man and Saltzman and her two passengers were taken to hospitals.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A deputy was injured when his cruiser collided with a minivan in suburban Omaha.

The crash happened early Sunday when deputy Kenneth Paulison’s patrol car collided with a minivan trying to turn from 144th Street.

Paulison was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his face and hands.

The minivan driver and a passenger were ejected from the vehicle but didn’t receive life-threatening injuries. The driver, 26-year-old Rikki Spencer, of Bellevue, and a passenger, 24-year-old Emma Herskind, of Gretna, were treated at a hospital.

WEST POINT, Neb. (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against his son in the slaying of a northeast Nebraska resident whose body was found in the charred remains of his home.

Cuming County District Court records say 50-year-old Jody Olson entered his plea Friday to a charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors dropped three other charges in exchange. A court document says he’s agreed to testify against his 29-year-old son, Derek Olson, who’s awaiting trial on second-degree murder and other charges stemming from the March 2017 death of 64-year-old Ernest Warnock.

Prosecutors say the Olsons went to Warnock’s home in rural Bancroft to retrieve property belonging to Becky Weitzenkamp. Prosecutors say a fight broke out, and Warnock stabbed Jody Olson in an arm before Derek Olson stabbed Warnock several times in the neck and head and hit him in the head with a hammer.

Weitzenkamp was sentenced to 18-20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to an accessory charge.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha commuters should prepare to say goodbye to the “20-minute city” as the metropolitan area’s population continues to grow. Omaha promoters have long treasured that title as a measure of a community with limited traffic troubles.

The Census Bureau’s latest estimate shows Douglas County’s average travel time to work has risen to 19.3 minutes, the Omaha World-Herald reported . That’s an increase from 18.6 minutes in the time span from 2008 to 2012.

Census estimates show Douglas and Sarpy Counties have 59,000 more commuters who take a car to work compared with 10 years ago.

For now, bus use in Omaha varies largely with the price of gas, said Curt Simon, executive director of Metro transit. Metro’s ridership, he said, has decreased over the past few years.

“I do see a shift in thinking,” Simon said. “What it takes to get a single occupant out of their car, I don’t know.”

Only about 1 percent of commuters in Douglas and Sarpy Counties use public transit, but Simon said he senses growing interest in the community in making broader transportation improvements.

Omaha’s Rapid Bus Transit line promises to run a rapid transit system on sleek buses between Westroads Mall and downtown Omaha. It is set to debut in 2020.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency and Nebraska Department of Transportation are also working on a major development strategy to shape the city’s transportation system for the next 20 to 30 years. The plan would consider major enhancements to the city’s interstates, but also places major emphasis on public transit projects.