The mother of an Omaha man is looking for answers related to her 24-year-old son’s death, which she says was caused by a road rage incident.
The June 10th accidenthappened at the intersection of 72nd and Cass Street. Omaha Police officials said a Suzuki motorcycle ran a red light and then collided with a Harley Davidson carrying two passengers. All three bikers died at the scene.
24-year-old Andrew Torrice was driving the Suzuki when he ran the red light, but his mother says he only sped through the red light to save his life.
Kristine Torrice told 3 News Now she believes there was another driver involved in her son’s crash. She says a woman driving a white Volkswagen Beetle chased her son, watched the tragedy unfold, and then drove off.
“A woman tried to run him over, she chased a 24-year-old boy,” said Torrice through a FaceTime interview. “I can’t even imagine what the last thoughts that went through my son’s head were. Probably, this woman is trying to kill me. What did I do that is making this woman chase me?”
Torrice said Andrew and some of his friends were out riding their motorcycles near 62nd and Dodge Street - the white Volkswagen nearby. “Along the ride, I guess the woman driving the car tried to merge into their lane but they blocked her – that’s what motorcyclists do to keep them altogether. I guess that made her mad,” Torrice said.
She says her son’s friends told her they then pulled into a nearby gas station – the Volkswagen allegedly followed. “She sat there for like twenty to thirty minutes – however long they were there, just staring at them, blaring her lights at them,” added Torrice. “She was probably waiting for one of them to leave or I don’t know if she was waiting for my son specifically since he was in the back – I have no idea.”
Torrice said her son was the first to leave, according to his friends. She says he drove catty-corner across the front of the woman’s car before she stepped on the gas and tried to run him over. “I don’t know if she was trying to scare him but after she tried to hit him, she took off after him onto Cass,” said Torrice.
Torrice says she doesn’t believe her son was a reckless driver who would’ve sped through a red light “just to rush home or look cool.” Torrice says he ran the red light “to save his own life.”
Torrice and her family are asking police to continue searching for the alleged suspect vehicle. She says police have told her they are looking for that specific vehicle and have surveillance from nearby businesses where they see the vehicle ‘aggressively chasing the motorcycle.’ She says detectives told her they don’t have enough leads to put out a search for the vehicle.
“We want justice. We don’t just want justice for Andrew but for Adam and Christine too. That woman needs to come forward. Or somebody else who knows something needs to turn her in. She needs to own up to what she did,” said Torrice.
3 News Now spoke to a nurse who witnessed the crash, Sabrina Lamb, shortly after the accident. She was on scene that night and tried to resuscitate Torrice. She says she saw a Volkswagen chasing a motorcycle.
“Something was going on. The way that the car was chasing that motorcycle,” said Lamb. “Whoever the driver is of that Volkswagen should come forward and at least give their side of what happened because three lives were lost. Three young lives were lost.”
3 News Now reached out to Omaha Police for an update to this investigation and were told they were looking into it, but have not yet received an update.
