Semi-truck driver Aleks Latsabidze of New York was charged Monday with motor vehicle homicide in an I-80 wreck that occurred Aug. 15 near Brady.

According to investigators, Latsabidze’s semi-truck that had been parked on the shoulder of I-80. He pulled out and merged into the driving lane, traveling below the minimum speed. Another semi-truck ran into the back of his flat-bed trailer, Nebraska State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said.

The impact crushed the cab of the rear semi-truck and started a fire that melted its aluminum trailer. The driver, Jose Espinosa Salazar, 40, of Florida, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Volunteer firefighters from Brady and Maxwell put out grass fires along the highway. Westbound I-80 traffic was blocked for six hours.

Latsabidze is in the Lincoln County jail. Thomas said the investigation is continuing.

That fatal wreck was the fourth rear-end collision on I-80 in Lincoln County within just three days — Aug. 13-15 — in which two people were killed.

A day earlier on Aug. 14, a female passenger in a pickup was killed when a semi-truck ran into the pickup while it was parked on the shoulder of I-80 near Sutherland. The truck driver, Fayzali Sharipov, 35, of Philadelphia, Penn., was charged with motor vehicle homicide.

About 14 hours earlier, around 3:45 p.m. Aug. 13, a pickup and semi-trailer were engulfed in flames when they collided on I-80 near Maxwell. The semi-tractor-trailer had been parked on the shoulder and was pulling back into traffic when the pickup ran into it, Lt. Clint Elwood of the Nebraska State Patrol said.

The pickup driver was treated and released at Great Plains Health in North Platte, but the cleanup was still underway at 10:10 p.m., when a car ran into the back of a state trooper’s vehicle that was performing traffic control at the scene. The trooper suffered minor injuries.

The driver of the car was cited for having an open container of alcohol, as well as failure to move over for an emergency vehicle, no registration, and no insurance.

The NSP reminds motorists that it is illegal to park on the I-80 shoulder except for mechanical trouble. It is illegal to pull over to take a break, stretch and/or change drivers, instead of pulling up the next exit or rest area. When a vehicle pulls back into traffic, they can easily misjudge the speed that is required to safely merge. Also, approaching cars often misjudge the speed of the recently merged vehicle.

Elwood said that drivers approaching a stalled or parked vehicle on the shoulder must more over to the passing lane.

The maximum penalty for motor vehicle homicide has been increased in recent years. It is now four years in prison and up to $25,000 fine.

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