STANTON COUNTY – A Winside youth is in critical condition following an accident in Stanton County Friday evening.
The Stanton County Sheriff’s Office says the accident took place on Highway 15 about five miles south of Pilger around 5:25 PM. 69-year-old Douglas Nelson of Wayne was driving a pickup northbound using a flatbed trailer to move a section of irrigation pipe, with an older pickup attached behind the pipe to steer its rear end.
The cab of the second pickup had its passenger side wheels go off the roadway and it veered across the highway coming unattached from the irrigation pipe. The pickup then struck an embankment in the west ditch causing the cab to come loose from its chassis and roll into a private driveway, ejecting its steering operator through the windshield onto the ground.
17-year-old Colton Navrkal of Winside was treated at the scene by Pilger Fire and Rescue, and was transported by LifeNet to a Sioux City trauma center. The accident remains under investigation, and Highway 15 was closed for over an hour before the scene was cleared.