Crash alert: 76-year-old man fatally struck by car after getting flat tire on I-80

OMAHA, NE – Police say an elderly driver who had pulled over with a flat tire in Omaha was struck and killed by another vehicle Saturday.

According to KETV, the victim was identified as 76-year-old Tim Flaherty, an Air Force veteran.

Officers responded to the scene on Interstate 80 near 60th Street shortly before 4 p.m.  Flaherty’s Hyundai Elantra was stopped on the north shoulder of I-80 westbound when it was struck from behind by a Nissan Maxima, causing the Hyundai to overturn. The Nissan then veered across the westbound lanes and hit a Jeep Cherokee, with both coming to rest on the south shoulder of the interstate.  Flaherty was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Nissan, 21-year-old Joaquin Dimayuga-Alvarado, was booked for felony motor vehicle homicide. Omaha police are investigating speed and alcohol as contributing factors in the incident.

A 16-year-old girl in Dimayuga-Alvarado’s vehicle was hospitalized in stable condition. Two people in the Jeep were not seriously injured.

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