According to a press release from the Stanton County Sheriff’s office, the department was alerted to “an unusual traffic accident on Highway 15,” roughly five miles south of Pilger, which left a Winside teen with critical injuries.
According to the release, The accident occurred when a northbound pickup driven by Douglas Nelson, 69, of Wayne was using a flatbed trailer to move a section of irrigation pipe. Behind the irrigation pipe was an older, attached pickup being used to steer the rear end of the long irrigation unit That steering pickup had its passenger-side wheels go off the roadway and it veered across the highway, coming unattached from the irrigation pipe. The pickup struck an embankment in the west ditch causing the cab of the second pickup to come loose from its chassis and the cab rolled into a private driveway ejecting that steering operator Colton Navrkal, 17, of Winside, through the wind shield of that pickup onto the ground.
Navrkal was treated at the scene by Pilger Fire and Rescue and was then transported directly from the scene by LifeNet medical helicopter to a Sioux City, Iowa trauma center. The accident remains under investigation and Highway 15 was closed for about an hour and a half, as the scene was investigated and cleared. Stanton County Emergency Management also responded and assisted with traffic control.
