BEATRICE – A Liberty man has been killed in a rural traffic accident in Pawnee County.

Pawnee County Sheriff Braden Lang says 85-year-old Charles “Chuck” Thomas of Liberty was operating a Kawasaki Mule eastbound on Nebraska Highway 8 at around 2:25 p.m. Tuesday.  Braden said Thomas attempted to make a turn at the intersection of the highway with 609 Avenue and collided with the side of an eastbound semitrailer truck.

Thomas died at the scene.  The truck driver, identified as 33-year-old Erasmo Jasso-Solis of Dodge City, Kansas, was not hurt.   

Sheriff Lang says Pawnee County Ambulance and EMT’s responded to the accident, which was investigated by the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Nebraska State Patrol.

The accident happened about three miles east of the Gage-Pawnee County line.