Man dies after being hit by 2 SUVs in northwest Omaha | Crime-and-courts
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OMAHA — A pedestrian accident in northwest Omaha Friday evening left one man useless.
Officers responded to experiences of a person down within the roadway at 153rd Road and West Maple Highway round 11:30 p.m. Friday, in line with a information launch.
Curtis Gormley, 41, was crossing West Maple Highway when he was hit again to again by two westbound SUVs, in line with the discharge. Gormley was pronounced useless on the scene.
The discharge said that each drivers had been cooperative on the scene and had been launched.
Tom Casady’s listing of the ten most notorious crimes in Lincoln historical past
Crimes of the instances
Tom Casady is Lincoln public security director.
That is merely one man’s perspective from the early twenty first century (first written in 2010). I needed to decide about crimes that occurred at areas which can be inside town immediately, however had been exterior our company limits on the time they occurred. I selected the latter.
Earlier than starting, although, I’ve to cope with three crimes that stand aside: the murders of three law enforcement officials in Lincoln. I’m not fairly certain tips on how to place them in a listing. All of them had large impacts on the group, and on the police division particularly. As a result of these are my colleagues, I cope with them individually and in chronological order.
Patrolman Marion Francis Marshall
Shot within the shadow of the brand new Nebraska State Capital, Gov. Charles Bryan got here to his support and summoned further assist.
Frank Soukup
Marion Marshall was technically not a Lincoln police officer, so Lt. Soukup was truly the primary Lincoln police officer killed on obligation. One in every of his colleagues who was current on the motel and concerned within the gunbattle, Paul Jacobsen, went on to take pleasure in an extended profession and command rank at LPD, influencing many younger expenses (like me) and leaving his mark on the tradition of the company.
Within the house of some months, three LPD officers died within the line of obligation. Frank Soukup had been murdered, and George Welter had died in a bike crash. Paul Whitehead’s accomplice, Paul Merritt, went on to command rank, and like Paul Jacobsen left an indelible mark at LPD and the group.
No. 1: Starkweather
Charles Starkweather’s driver’s license
The topic of a number of thinly disguised film plots and a Springsteen album, the Starkweather murders are clearly essentially the most notorious crime in Lincoln’s historical past — up to now. One of many first mass murderers of the mass media age, six of Charles Starkweather’s 11 victims had been killed inside town of Lincoln, and the primary was simply on the outskirts of city. I didn’t stay in Lincoln on the time, however my spouse was a first-grader at Riley Elementary Faculty and has vivid reminiscences of town gripped by worry within the days between the invention of the Bartlett murders and Starkweather’s seize in Wyoming.
The case brought on fairly an uproar. There was intense criticism of the police division and sheriff’s workplace for not capturing Starkweather earlier within the week after the invention of the Bartletts’ our bodies. In the end, Mayor Bennett Martin and the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners retained a retired FBI agent, Harold G. Robinson, to analyze the efficiency of native regulation enforcement. His report primarily exonerated the native regulation officers and made a number of vanilla suggestions for enhancing inter-agency communication and coaching.
A file from the investigator on police efficiency in dealing with the Starkweather murders.
Now I do know that many readers are mumbling to themselves “how apparent.” Maintain your horses, although. It’s not fairly as apparent as you would possibly assume. I had two experiences that drove this reality residence to me. The primary was a go to by a small group of journalism college students. Just one member of the category had any concept, and her concept was fairly imprecise. You have to do not forget that the Starkweather murders had been in 1957 and 1958 — earlier than the mother and father of many school college students had been even born.
The second expertise was a go to by a Cub Scout den. I used to be giving the youngsters a tour of the police station one night. We had been within the entrance foyer ready for everybody to reach. As I entertained the boys, I instructed the mothers and dads that they could take pleasure in wanting within the nook of the Sheriff’s Workplace show case to see the contents of Starkweather’s pockets — found a few years in the past locked up within the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Workplace secure. After a couple of minutes, one of many confused fathers requested me who Starkweather was, and why it was vital.
No. 2: Lincoln Nationwide Financial institution
Gus Winkeler
On the morning of Sept. 17, 1930, a darkish blue Buick carrying six males pulled up in entrance of the Lincoln Nationwide Financial institution on the northwest nook of twelfth and O streets. 5 of the lads entered the financial institution, whereas a sixth stood exterior by the Buick, cradling a machine gun. Observing the bizarre occasions, a passerby referred to as the police. The officer who responded, Forrest Shappaugh, was casually instructed by the machine-gun-toting lookout to simply hold going, which he properly did. Returning with reinforcements, he discovered that the robbers had already made good on their getaway, netting $2.7 million in money and negotiable securities.
In the end, three of the six suspects had been arrested. Tommy O’Connor and Howard Lee had been convicted and sentenced. Jack Britt was tried twice however not convicted by a hung jury. Gus Winkeler, a member of Al Capone’s gang, winged a cope with County Lawyer Max Towle to keep away from prosecution in alternate for orchestrating the restoration of $600,000 in bearer bonds. The next 12 months, Winkeler was murdered in Chicago, the sufferer of a gangland slaying. The ultimate two robbers had been by no means recognized.
The Lincoln Nationwide Financial institution theft stood as the biggest money financial institution theft in the USA for a lot of many years. It precipitated main modifications on the Lincoln Police Division. Chief Peter Johnstone was quickly “retired” after the theft, the division’s fleet was upgraded so as to add the primary official patrol vehicles, the total drive was armed and a shotgun squad was organized. Forty-four years later after I was employed at LPD, the echo of the Lincoln Nationwide Financial institution theft was nonetheless evident in each day financial institution opening particulars, and within the Thomspon submachine weapons and Reising rifles that detectives grabbed every time the theft alarm sounded at headquarters.
No. 3: The Final Posse
My first inkling about this crime got here after I was the chief deputy sheriff. One in every of my interns, a younger man named Ron Boden (who grew to become a veteran deputy sheriff), had been doing a little analysis on Lancaster County’s solely identified lynching, in 1884. I got here throughout a reference within the biography of the sheriff on the time, Sam Melick, to the homicide of the Nebraska Penitentiary warden and subsequent jail break. Melick had been appointed interim warden after the homicide and instituted a number of reforms.
A number of years later, a colleague, Sgt. Geoff Marti, loaned me an important e-book, Gale Christianson’s “Final Posse,” that instructed the story of the 1912 jail break in gory, haunting and wonderful element.
To make an extended story quick, convict Shorty Grey and his co-conspirators shot and killed Warden James Delahunty, a deputy warden and a guard on Wednesday, March 13, 1912. They then made their break — proper into the enamel of a brutal Nebraska spring blizzard. Over the course to the following few days, a posse pursued. In the course of the pursuit, the escapees carjacked a younger farmer along with his workforce and wagon. Because the posse closed in, a gunfight broke out and the hostage was shot and killed within the alternate, together with two of the three escapees.
There was loads of anger among the many locals within the Gretna-Springfield neighborhood in regards to the demise of their native son, and an argument raged over the regulation enforcement ways that led to his demise. Lancaster County Sheriff Gus Hyers was not unsullied by the inquiry, though it seems from my prospect a century later that the fog of battle led to the tragedy.
Christianson, a professor of historical past at Indiana State College who died earlier this 12 months, notes the next on the flyleaf:
“For anybody dwelling west of the Mississippi in 1912, the largest information that fateful 12 months was a violent escape from the Nebraska state penitentiary deliberate and carried out by a trio of infamous robbers and secure blowers.”
Greater information on half the continent than the sinking of the Titanic throughout the identical 12 months would definitely qualify this murder-escape as one of the vital notorious Lincoln crimes in historical past.
No. 4: Rock Island wreck
A marker for the Rock Island wreck website is alongside the Jamaica North Path.
The Aug. 10, 1894, wreck of a Rock Island prepare on the southwest outskirts of Lincoln was virtually misplaced within the mist of time till it was resurrected within the public consciousness by creator Joel Williams, who got here throughout the story whereas conducting analysis for his historic novel, “Barrelhouse Boys.”
The wreck was decided to be the results of sabotage to the tracks, maybe an try and derail the prepare as a prelude to theft. Eleven folks died within the crash and ensuing hearth, making this a mass homicide, to make certain. G.W. Davis was arrested and convicted of the crime however later obtained a full pardon. The story was instructed in larger element earlier this 12 months by the Lincoln Journal Star.
A historic marker is alongside the Rock Island Path in Wilderness Park, accessible solely by foot or bike from the closest path entry factors a few half-mile away at Previous Cheney Highway on the north, or 14th Road on the south.
Right here’s the large query that is still unanswered: Was there actually vital proof to show that George Washington Davis dedicated the crime, or was he only a handy scapegoat? The truth that he obtained a gubernatorial pardon 10 years later leads me to imagine that the proof should have been unusually weak. If he was railroaded, then my second query is that this: who actually pried free the tracks with the 40-pound crowbar discovered on the scene?
No. 5: Commonwealth
Depositors collect exterior of Commonwealth Financial savings Co. after it was closed by the state Division of Banking in 1983.
On Nov. 1, 1983, the doorways to Nebraska’s largest industrial financial savings and mortgage firm had been closed and Commonwealth was declared bancrupt. The 6,700 depositors with $65 million at stake would by no means be absolutely compensated for his or her loss, in the end receiving about 59 cents on the greenback for his or her deposits, which all of them mistakenly believed had been insured as much as $30,000 by means of the Nebraska Depository Insurance coverage Warranty Company, which was primarily an insurance coverage pool with property of solely $3 million.
The case dominated Nebraska news for months. The investigation in the end led to the conviction of three members of the distinguished Lincoln household that owned the establishment, the resignation of the director of the State Division of Banking and the impeachment of the Nebraska legal professional common and the suspension of his license to observe regulation. State and federal litigation arising from the failure of Commonwealth drug on for years.
On the Lincoln Police Division, the Commonwealth failure led to the formation of a specialised white-collar crime element, now often known as the Technical Investigations Unit. On the time, municipal police departments in the USA had just about no capability for investigating monetary crime and fraud of this magnitude, and we rapidly grew to become well-known for our experience on this space. The early expertise served LPD very effectively within the guaranteeing years.
No. 6: Candice Harms
Candi Harms, a College of Nebraska-Lincoln freshman, disappeared on Sept. 22, 1992. Her physique was present in a area two months later.
Candi Harms by no means got here residence from visiting her boyfriend on Sept. 22, 1992. Her mother and father reported her as a lacking particular person the next morning, and her automobile was discovered deserted in a cornfield north of Lincoln later within the day. Weeks glided by earlier than her stays had been discovered southeast of Lincoln.
Scott Barney and Roger Bjorklund had been convicted in her abduction and homicide. Barney is in jail serving a life time period. Bjorklund died in jail in 2001. Intense media attention surrounded the prolonged trial of Roger Bjorklund, for which a jury was introduced in from Cheyenne County as an alternative choice to a change of venue. I’ve little doubt that the trial was a life-changing occasion for a bunch of excellent residents from Sidney, who did their civic obligation.
I used to be the Lancaster County sheriff on the time, concerned each within the investigation and within the trial safety. It was at about this time that the mobile phone was changing into a client product, and I’ve typically thought that this brutal crime most likely spurred a whole lot of purchases. Throughout my profession, that is most likely the second-most-prominent Lincoln crime when it comes to the sheer quantity of media protection.
No. 7: Jon Simpson and Jacob Surber
A dad or mum’s worst nightmare unfolded in September 1975 when these two boys, ages 12 and 13, didn’t return from the Nebraska State Truthful. The boys had been the victims of abduction and homicide. The case was much like a string of different murders of younger boys within the Midwest, and lots of thought that these circumstances had been associated — the work of a serial killer. Though an arrest was made within the case right here in Lincoln, the fees had been finally dismissed. William Guatney was launched and has since died.
No. 8: John Sheedy
Though no images survive of John and Mary Sheedy, this engraving was made for an 1891 concern of Vainness Truthful journal.
Saloon and playing home proprietor John Sheedy was gunned down exterior his residence at 1211 P St. in January 1891. The case of Sheedy, distinguished in Lincoln’s demiworld, grew to become the speak of the city when his spouse, Mary, and her alleged lover and confederate, Monday McFarland, had been arrested. Each had been acquitted at trial. The Sheedy homicide is chronicled in an important interactive multimedia web site, Gilded Age Plains City, a web based model that builds upon an article printed in 2001 by Timothy Mahoney of the College of Nebraska.
No. 9: Patricia McGarry and Catherine Brooks
The our bodies of those two associates had been present in a Northeast Lincoln duplex in August 1977. Their assassin, Robert E. Williams, was the topic of an enormous Midwest manhunt throughout the next week. Earlier than his seize, he dedicated a 3rd homicide in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, and raped, shot and left for useless a sufferer who survived in Minnesota. He’s the final man to be executed in Nebraska, despatched to the electrical chair in 1997.
No. 10: Choose William M. Morning
District Courtroom Choose William Morning was murdered in February 1924. He was shot on the bench by an sad litigant in a divorce case. His courtroom reporter, Minor Bacon, was additionally shot, however a pocket book in his breast pocket deflected the bullet and saved his life.
Many different crimes
Wesley Peery, proven on this Could 1978 file picture, was recognized as an early suspect within the Nancy Parker case. After he was convicted of killing Marianne Mitzner in a Havelock coin store in 1975, he confessed to his legal professional that he had killed a few dozen folks, together with Nancy Parker.
Selecting Lincoln’s 10 most notorious crimes was a problem. Though the highest two had been straightforward, the image rapidly grew to become clouded. We have a tendency, after all, to neglect our historical past quite rapidly. Lots of the crimes I felt had been among the many most vital are barely remembered immediately, if not utterly forgotten.
Some readers will take concern with my listing. In selecting 10, listed below are the others I thought-about, in no explicit order. They’re all murders:
— Victoria Lamm and Janet Mesner
— Regina Bos (presumably murdered)
I additionally thought in regards to the 5 murder-suicides by which a mom or father killed a number of relations earlier than taking their very own life. Although tragic, these crimes didn’t command the identical sort of consideration because the others, maybe as a result of there was no prolonged investigation, no tantalizing whodunit, no stranger-killer, nor any of the small print that come out within the protection of a serious trial.
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