Eric Turvey was standing outside his SUV parked in the Barnes and Noble parking lot Sunday night watching cars cruising down O Street when he heard screeching, saw two cars crash and a black Taurus barrel-rolling toward him.
It came to rest upside down in front of him, along with two people who’d been sitting on the sidewalk watching the cars.
“I had to pull my feet out from under them,” he said. “We had to move the car to get to them. There was maybe a 2-foot gap between my legs and the front of the car upside down on fire.”
Turvey was among a crowd of witnesses to a crash Sunday night that sent two cars into a crowd of bystanders gathered near the intersection at 52nd Street to watch cars cruise along O Street in what has become an annual Memorial Day tradition.
Two Lincoln women, ages 20 and 22, died at the scene. Police Chief Teresa Ewins, who spoke at a press conference Monday afternoon, declined to name the women, who she said have been identified. Area hospitals received 20 injured patients, up from 19 originally identified.
Both were occupants in an eastbound white Toyota Corolla that was struck when it turned north in front of a westbound black Ford Taurus being driven by an 18-year-old man from Omaha, who was the car’s only occupant, Ewins said.
Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird extended “heartfelt condolences to the families and friends” of the women killed in Sunday’s crash, and wished a “quick and full recovery” to those injured.
“When a tragic accident like this occurs, we in Lincoln are fortunate that we are surrounded by talented and dedicated professionals who spring into action and respond with their experience, training and expertise to keep our community safe,” she said at the press conference.
The crash was reported at 10:47 p.m. Sunday, Ewins said. Investigators are trying to determine if any of the individuals involved were wearing seat belts, if alcohol was a factor in the crash, or what speeds the vehicles were traveling.
“We’re trying to piece that together,” Ewins said. “Our people have been up all night trying to put the evidence together so we can actually figure that out.”
The Taurus rolled onto its top and pinned two people under it, she said. Bystanders were able to roll the vehicle off and one of those individuals was taken to the hospital and remained in critical but stable condition on Monday afternoon.
Destenie Commuso said she stayed with the young woman who’d been a spectator and was trapped under the Taurus, trying to keep her awake, while rescue workers tried to get the driver out of the car.
She called the girl’s dad, while her fiancé tried to keep the crowd back. A young man was trapped, too, but didn’t seem to be injured as severely, she said.
Commuso who was sitting on the north side of O Street, just east of 52nd Street, had just packed up with her fiancé and two kids and pulled onto O Street behind the Taurus.
She said a group of teenagers were throwing fireworks at cars before the accident and wonders if a firework may have played a part in what happened. Police did not mention fireworks during Monday’s press conference.
Turvey, who was on the west side of 52nd Street, was hit by flying debris — and was covered in antifreeze or other car fluids, but two young children sitting on chairs in the cargo of his SUV watching the cars were unhurt.
“My instinct was to shield the kids,” he said. “I was standing directly behind the vehicle. I moved myself in front of the kids and waited for everything to stop. Then it stopped, help mode kicked in and I started trying to help.”
A friend and mom of the kids in his car — who’d gotten there just minutes before the accident — took them from the area and paramedics checked them at another location, but they weren’t hurt.
Turvey moved his car so they could get to the Taurus, and ran back to help. By that time other bystanders also were helping, and police and paramedics had arrived.
When he moved his car, he said, he saw a kid bleeding and ran to get paramedics. There were lots of young kids in the area, he said.
“It was a mess,” he said. “It was one of the fastest medical responses I’ve ever witnessed in my life.”
Lincoln Fire and Rescue Chief Dave Engler said the response Sunday night was quickly declared a mass casualty event, requiring six medical units, four engine companies and two truck companies with special equipment to perform extrications from vehicles.
The response led O Street to be closed between 48th and 56th streets for several hours.
The first engine on scene extinguished minor fires and began to triage those injured, many of whom were struck as they stood between the street and parking lot of the Barnes & Noble.
“One of the challenges we had was the scene was very large and there was a lot of people there, and vehicles were a part,” Engler said, “so it’s almost like you had two separate scenes. It’s difficult to identify who the patients are because there are people all over the place.”
LFR transported eight people to area hospitals, Engler added, and was still trying to tally the numbers of people treated at the scene. Others were taken to hospitals by family or friends.
Bryan Medical Center treated 10 people — seven at its west campus and three at its east, according to an earlier press release from police. Of those, eight were treated and released, and two were admitted — one in critical condition, one in serious.
CHI Health St. Elizabeth also received 10 patients. Seven were treated and released. Three were admitted — two in good condition, and a third who was discharged Monday.
On Monday afternoon, one patient was still hospitalized in critical, but stable condition, according to Ewins, while injuries suffered by others were considered non-life threatening.
The driver of the Taurus was among those with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Police are asking for the public’s help with its investigation and is urging any witnesses to share their information, including video and photographs, by calling the non-emergency number at 402-441-6000.
The fatal crash was at least the second involving onlookers during an O Street cruise event.
In July 2000, a 39-year-old woman, Connie McCullough, was killed as she watched Americruise cars pass near 35th and O streets when a nonparticipant car veered off O Street and hit her. She died shielding her children.
After a brief hiatus following the 2000 crash, Americruise returned to Lincoln, but has not been hosted in the Capital City for two decades.
Memorial Day weekend typically brings out an increased numbers of drivers who cruise O Street in what police consider an “unsanctioned event,” Ewins said, as well as onlookers who gather on sidewalks and in nearby business parking lots to watch them.
Lincoln Police Capt. Max Hubka said none of the officers assigned to monitor the cruise night witnessed the crash, but the first reached the scene within a minute.
He said all indications were that Sunday’s cruise night event was “pretty controlled,” with fewer people gathered to watch along O Street and fewer vehicles making the loop than on previous nights.
Last week, the Nebraska State Patrol and Lincoln Police said they would strengthen their forces Friday through Sunday, with a special focus on O Street between 17th and 84th streets.
In recent years, crowds of more than 5,000 people have gathered for the informal parade of classic cars interspersed with regular traffic. Police have described how some watchers rush into O Street to pour water on the tires of cars doing burnouts to create larger smoke clouds.
Hubka couldn’t say how many people were gathered on the north side of O Street in front of the Barnes & Noble at the time of Sunday’s crash.
Taylor Arizola was across the street from Barnes and Noble, in the Verizon store’s parking lot, when he heard tires screeching behind him.
He turned around in time to see the Taurus skidding, but unable to stop, before hitting the passenger side of the Corolla. Both cars careened into the crowd. Arizola helped others flip the overturned Taurus back onto its wheels, he said.
“There were people running for their lives but getting rolled on by a car,” he said. “I saw people’s kneecaps hanging out, people laying on the ground not being able to move.”
Social media posts leading up to the crash showed people gathered at the intersection of 52nd and O streets as cars sped by.
Over the course of Sunday evening, videos posted on the social media app Snapchat showed people lining both sides of O Street near 52nd Street. In one video, a car attempts a burnout in front of a crowd of people.
Following the crash, people are seen helping victims as first responders reached the scene. In one video posted on Twitter, smoke rolls from a vehicle in the background. In another, people crouch over a victim in front of a car.
Commuso, on the other hand, said she was struck by how many people chose to pull out their phones rather than help.
“Either get out of the way or put your phones away and help,” she said.
A day later, Turvey was still trying to process what happened, the chaos and trying to help, and how close he came to being a victim.
“I came within 2 feet of possibly losing my life last night,” he said.
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