Photo: WOWT 6 News
(Omaha, NE) -- The man killed when a tree fell on him in northwest Omaha Wednesday afternoon is identified.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office says just after 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, deputies along with Bennington Fire and Rescue were called to the area of 162nd and Ida Street for an injured person. Investigators say that two men were part of a tree cutting crew that was working for Valley Corp, clearing a wooded area for an ongoing construction project. DCSO says while cutting down a large tree, the tree shifted and fell opposite of the direction it was anticipated to fall. Both men were hit by the falling tree and ultimately the tree fell directly on top of Mathew Thompson, of Yutan, crushing him.
Bennington Fire personnel pronounced Thompson dead at the scene. DCSO says the other victim, Cooper Lippincott of Blair, was alert and breathing but suffering from a lower extremity injury believed to be a broken leg/ankle. Lippincott was taken to UNMC for treatment.