Tragedy struck this Davenport family last Wednesday when a motor vehicle accident on Highway 6 claimed two lives and sent three youngsters to the hospital. This picture is from a social media post advising readers of opportunities to donate to accounts opened in area banks to help the family. For details see the accompanying story.
A Davenport mother and child were killed and three other family members hospitalized when their vehicle collided with a semi-trailer truck traveling on Highway 6 near the Clay and Adams county line last Wednesday.
Nicole Pavelka, 30, and Ryker Schlichtman, 8, were pronounced dead at the accident scene.
Two other family members, one 11-years-old and and a 10-year-old were taken to Children's Hospsital in Omaha with serious injuries. A fifth family member, 9-years-old, was taken to the Hastings hospital.
The driver of the truck, Justin Zoerb, 21, of Hazard, was arrested and booked into the Adams County Jail after it was discovered he was the subject of an active arrest warrant issued in Hitchcock County.
It appeared to investigators that the truck driven by Zoerb was westbond on U.S. Highway 6 about 4:15 p.m. when it encountered stopped westbound traffic waiting for a vehicle to turn onto Clay County Road A.
Having failed to slow down in time, and trying avoid crashing into the stop vehicles, Zoerb lost control of the truck. The truck crossed the center line and collided with an east Buick Enclave driven by Pavelka.
Pavelka was a graduate of Bruning=Davenport Public school and living in Davenport. She was employed as certified nursing aide at Blue Valley Lutheran Care Home. Accounts to accept donations to assist the family have been opened at the Bruning State Bank, Citizens State Bank and the Cornerstone Bank under the name of Nicole Pavelka Memorial Account.
Pavelka had taken the children to Hastings to shop for back-to-school items and was returning home at the time of the accident.
Pavelka's sister posted on a social meeting site Friday that Jasa had minimal brusing and was released from Mary Lanning on Thursday morning and had gone to Omaha with his dad to cheer his siblings on.
Hayden suffered a broken femur in his left leg and some severe bruising. He had surgery on Thursday and was expected to practice walking on Friday.
Laelynn was stable but in critical condition on Friday. Her injuries included skull fratures. She was being kept sedated until the swelling in her brain went down.
Reader Comments(0)