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Woman killed in single-vehicle midtown Omaha crash

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 64-year-old woman has died in a single-vehicle crash in midtown Omaha.

Police say the crash happened late Friday night at 36th and Dodge streets when a sport utility vehicle traveling east on Dodge hit a guy wire, re-entered the roadway, then drifted back off the road and hit a concrete wall.

Investigators say the SUV then rolled and hit other landscaping and structures before coming to rest.

Killed in the crash was the driver and lone occupant, Nancy Lee, of Omaha.

Omaha police: Man who fell in street fatally hit by vehicles

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man who had fallen in a midtown Omaha street died after being hit by several vehicles, none of which stopped.Omaha police say officers were called to 36th and Leavenworth streets late Friday night. A witness told officers that the man, identified as 64-year-old Julian Branker, was using a cane and walking along Leavenworth when he slipped and fell into the roadway. The witness stopped to help, but says three different vehicles hit Branker before the witness could reach him.

Police say none of the vehicles stopped.

Branker was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Police had not announced any arrests by midday Saturday.

Omaha man pleads guilty in hit-and-run that killed toddler

Davionne Collier

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has pleaded guilty to charges in the May hit-and-run crash that left a 2-year-old boy dead.

25-year-old Davionne Collier pleaded guilty Friday to leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide. Collier faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced Feb. 13.

Police say Collier was driving a sport utility vehicle that collided with a car on May 28, fatally injuring 2-year-old Devon Morris and seriously injuring another child and three other people. Police say Collier and a passenger in his SUV walked away from the crash scene.

Nebraska principal on leave after banning Christmas symbols

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska elementary school principal has been placed on leave after a conservative Christian group threatened legal action over her ban on Christmas and holiday symbols in her school.

Elkhorn Public Schools quickly reversed Manchester Elementary principal Jennifer Sinclair’s ban on imagery including Santa, Christmas trees and even candy canes after Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit that promotes and defends what it believes are evangelical Christian values, accused the district of being hostile to Christians.

Sinclair apologized to parents in a letter Wednesday, but was put on administrative leave Thursday for violating district policy that expressly allows Christmas trees, Santa and other secular, seasonal symbols to be displayed as teaching aids. The school district declined to answer questions about when or whether Sinclair would return to her post.

The issue arose when Sinclair, in her first year as principal at the school on Omaha’s western edge, sent a memo to school staff last week that included lists of acceptable and unacceptable holiday practices in the classroom. Besides Santa and Christmas images, Christmas carols and ornaments were banned, and candy canes were off limits because the principal claimed in a memo that, “Historically, the shape is a ‘J’ for Jesus.”

Some Christian groups have made claims of candy canes having a religious Christian origin, but such claims are widely dismissed.

A list of acceptable images and practices included snowflakes, snowmen, sledding, hot chocolate, penguins, polar bears and yetis.

The memo asked all staff to heed the policy to “avoid the discomfort of me directly questioning something you’ve copied, posted and had your kids do.” The intent, the memo said, was to create an inclusive environment for students of varied religious beliefs.

It is signed, “The (Unintentional) Grinch who stole Christmas (from Manchester).”

The memo upset some staff and parents, who forwarded it to Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based legal aid group that represents evangelical Christians. The group has gained a reputation for opposing gay rights and challenging state laws, such as bans to so-called conversion therapy aimed at turning gay minors straight. It also represented a former Kentucky county clerk briefly jailed for refusing a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Liberty Counsel as an anti-gay hate group for spreading false information, such as connecting homosexuality to higher rates of promiscuity and incest despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

On Nov. 30, Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the district, its board and Sinclair demanding a reversal of the ban on Christmas symbols.

“If they hadn’t responded by close of business Monday, we were going to file a federal lawsuit,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “In our 30 years in existence, this memo is the most egregious we’ve ever seen, just given its length and scope.”

Sinclair could not be reached Friday for comment.

No other schools within the district were affected.

Body found by firefighters identified as that of Lincoln man

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man whose body was found by firefighters battling a Lincoln house blaze.

Lincoln Fire & Rescue identified the man Thursday as 84-year-old Jerry Snyder.

Firefighters dispatched to the home a little after 11 p.m. Wednesday reported seeing flames and smoke as they arrived.

Lincoln Fire & Rescue spokeswoman Nancy Crist says the fire cause is being investigated.

Firefighters also reported that two dogs were rescued from the home and that two other dogs died inside.

Man charged in fatal Omaha crash has bond set at $750K

Jeffrey Eggeling

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old Bennington man charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a 14-year-old Omaha boy has had his bail set at $750,000.

Jeffrey Eggeling appeared in Douglas County Court on Wednesday for the bond hearing. He’s charged with vehicular homicide with a prior drunken driving conviction, DUI causing serious injury, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.

Police say Eggeling was drunk and speeding when he ran a red light at a west Omaha intersection on Saturday and hit a car driven by 59-year-old Clifford Canaday. Canaday’s son, Trevor, who was a passenger in the car, was critically injured and later died.

Police say Eggeling ran from the crash scene but was later found and arrested. Eggeling has two prior DUI convictions in Douglas County.

Lincoln man who snatched girl from her bed gets 89-99 years

Cody Riddle
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man accused of snatching an 8-year-old girl from her bed as she slept and sexually assaulting her has been sentenced to 89 to 99 years in prison.

Lancaster County District Court records say 23-year-old Cody Riddle was sentenced Wednesday. He’d pleaded no contest to sexual assault of a child. Prosecutors dismissed kidnapping and burglary charges in exchange for Riddle’s plea.

Police say Riddle went to steal items from the girl’s home in August 2015, entering through an open garage. Police say he found the girl, took her to his garage and bound her, sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her or her family if she told anyone.

The girl later told her parents, who called police. Riddle was arrested the same day.

Nurse gets probation, jail for stealing hospital painkillers

Krista Morgan

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman has been given probation and 87 days in jail for stealing painkillers when she worked at a Lincoln hospital.

Lancaster County District Court records say 31-year-old Krista Morgan was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $1,000 at a hearing Tuesday. She’d pleaded guilty to intentionally violating narcotic drug law.

Prosecutors say she stole several bottles of fentanyl citrate from Bryan Health’s West Campus hospital while working there as a nurse. Fentanyl citrate is an opioid painkiller.

A January inventory check showed the bottles were missing. She’s no longer employed at the hospital.

Omaha teacher accused of student sexual assaults

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old Omaha schoolteacher has been accused of sexually assaulting one or more students.
Douglas County Court records say 30-year-old Gregory Sedlacek is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Sedlacek. Jail records say he remained in custody Wednesday.
A court document says a witness reported seeing Sedlacek molest a 7-year-old girl on the Fontanelle Elementary School playground. The document says Sedlacek later acknowledged to an investigator what he’d done to the girl several times and said he’d done similar things to other students.
The school district placed him on leave last month. He’d taught at the school for three years.

Taser was ineffective, expert testifies at officer’s trial

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A police expert has testified that an Omaha police officer’s stun gun didn’t function correctly when he used it to try to subdue a mentally ill man.

Omaha Officer Dave Staskiewicz (STASS’-koh-wihtz) testified Monday at the trial of Scotty Payne, who is charged with felony assault in the June 5, 2017, death of 29-year-old Zachary Bearheels.

Staskiewicz says that although Payne pulled the Taser trigger 12 times, the two prongs did not attach to Bearheels during 11 of those pulls, so the stun gun largely wasn’t effective. Staskiewicz questions only one of Payne’s trigger pulls, when Bearheels was seated on the ground with his back against a police cruiser tire.

An autopsy says Bearheels suffered “sudden death associated with excited delirium,” physical struggle, restraint and use of a stun gun.

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