Douglas County judge rules driver in fatal 2021 crash not guilty due to COVID symptoms
A judge sided with the defense who argued Gerard Skutnik was not legal responsible because he had a medical emergency.
A judge sided with the defense who argued Gerard Skutnik was not legal responsible because he had a medical emergency.
A judge sided with the defense who argued Gerard Skutnik was not legal responsible because he had a medical emergency.
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A Douglas County judge ruled the man involved in a crash that killed one person is innocent because he was suffering from COVID-19 symptoms.
Gerard Skutnik was charged with motor vehicle homicide for his role in a four-vehicle crash on North 144th Street near West Dodge Road in November 2021.
Investigators say Skutnik's 2012 Toyota Tundra was speeding when he crashed into a stopped 2017 Chevy Malibu. The Malibu then struck a stopped 2015 Chevy Equinox and a 2022 BMW 840i.
The driver of the Malibu, 78-year-old Patricia Brinkman, of Omaha, died at the scene.
This is the first time COVID-19 has been used as a defense in the Douglas County.
Defense Attorney Glenn Shapiro said he won the case by proving Skutnik's actions were involuntary and caused by a medical emergency.
"It's called syncope and that's not exclusive to COVID," he said. "Syncope is just basically where you faint, you pass out."
Shapiro said it's not different from suffering a heart attack or stroke while driving.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said he's disappointed with the judge's ruling.
"We respectfully disagree," he said.
Kleine believes the evidence shows Skutnik was conscious at the time of crash.
Investigators said Skutnik was traveling more than 95 miles an hour when he hit Brinkman's car.
"I don't know that if you were unconscious, that would make you floor the accelerator to go a hundred miles an hour," Kleine said. "I don't know how you would stay in the same lane of traffic that you wouldn't swerve off the road to the side."
However, in the end, the judge sided with the defense. Shapiro said the medical testimony was crucial to the judge's ruling.
A doctor revealed syncope is a symptom of covid in 3 to 10% of cases.
"The evidence shows that this was most likely a medical event related to COVID symptoms. And so the judge believed the doctor's testimony," Shapiro said.
Shapiro said Skutnik did not know he had COVID and didn't know fainting could be symptom.