Trial set for semi driver

TRENTON, Neb. — A pretrial hearing is set for 1:45 p.m. Nov. 7 for the driver of a semi involved in a collision that killed a City of McCook employee July 18.

Wayne A. Cook, an employee of McCook’s solid waste transfer station, was killed when the semi he was driving was in collision with another truck driven by Keith B. Gesegnet, 50, of Stephenvill, Texas, which was reported to have failed to stop at a stop sign.

A jury trial is set before District Judge Patrick M. Heng beginning at 9 a.m. Dec. 18 in Hitchcock County District Court.

Gesegnet is charged with motor vehicle homicide, a Class 3A felony, and a variety of amended misdemeanor charges, including alcohol possession, post-accident alcohol use, unlawful consumption of alcohol and various permit violations.

According to court documents, officers reported Gesegnet consumed a beer while stopped at a Trenton convenience store as he was being transported to McCook for a legal blood draw.

Bond was set at $200,000 but no information was immediately available as to whether Gesegnet had bonded out.

The City of McCook makes daily trips to haul solid waste the J Bar J landfill south of Ogallala.