Mark and Taylor Kaipust.Photo: gofundme
A Nebraska community has been left heartbroken after a beloved professor and his 7-year-old son were killed in a car crash on their way to a college football game.
Mark Kaipust, 41, and his son Taylor were identified as the two victims in Saturday’s fatal collision on Interstate 80 near Lincoln, according toa press release from the Nebraska State Patrol.
“I keep thinking about that. It’s just a father trying to go to a Husker game with his son yesterday,” Powers told the outlet. “That’s what’s so tragic about it — just doing something that he loved and that he was trying to expose one of his sons to the environment around a Husker game.”
Nebraska State Patrol said the crash unfolded just before 9:30 a.m. and involved eight vehicles that were all traveling westbound on I-80.
Mark Kaipust.Mark Kaipust/ facebook
Crawford then continued driving for more than a mile, striking several other passengers in the process, police said. Investigators believe speed and inattention were the primary causes of the crash.
The Kaipusts were the only two fatalities, but police said five other people were injured during the incident. All five were transported to Bryan Health West Campus with non-life-threatening injuries, per the release.
Crawford, 50, has since been arrested for two counts of motor vehicle homicide and remains in Lancaster County Jail. It is unclear if he has retained legal representation based on the jail’sonline inmate records.
The devastating news came as a complete shock to the Nebraska community where Kaipust was born and raised, and heavily involved as a father to three children with his wife, Jamie.
AGoFundMe pageset up in the Kaipust family’s honor stated that he was a 1998 graduate of Gross Catholic High School in Bellevue and a “longtime coach in the high school’s basketball program and Junior Cougar baseball and basketball programs.”
“He was a dedicated husband and father to Jamie, Kayden, Taylor and Isaiah,” the page reads. “He has been an outstanding coach and mentor to so many over the years and given countless hours in our programs at Gross Catholic High School.”
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“It is with a heavy heart that I write to you this morning, sharing the sad news of the tragic loss of our colleague, Mark Kaipust, and his son, yesterday in a car accident that occurred near Lincoln,” Hendricksonwrote on Twitter. “As my prayers and thoughts extend to Mark’s family and friends, too they reach to his colleagues in OT, all of SPAHP, and the members of our campus community.”
Workman echoed those sentiments in a statement to theOhama World-Heraldon Sunday.
Jack Olson, a student at Creighton, told NBC affiliateWOWTsaid the incident was a reminder of how precious life was.
“I know the professor was probably doing great things for students here, a lot of people looked up to him I’m sure. It just hits close to home. It’s terrible. That’s the only way to put it,” Olson told the outlet. “That could happen to my parents coming to my tournament to watch me play golf, you know.”
“Our families are heartbroken over the loss of two people we love and will miss dearly — Mark and Taylor,” the statement read. “We appreciate the outpouring of support and ask for prayers and privacy as we navigate this difficult time.”
The GoFundMe page that was set up for the family on Monday has since raised over $66,000. Those interested in donating can do sohere.
source: people.com
