Grand Island man to prison for crash that killed wife

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - A March 2022 fatal car crash has resulted in a Grand Island man going to prison.

Court records show 30-year-old Juan Velasquez Montanez was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison for felony motor vehicle homicide. Montanez was convicted in February after a plea bargain.

Police say the accident happened near Groff and South Cherry Streets in east Grand Island. A vehicle, driven by Velasquez Montanez, was traveling southbound on Cherry Street and veered to the right, causing the vehicle to collide with a tree. The front corner of the vehicle on the passenger side took a brunt of the damage when hitting the tree. The vehicle then hit a utility pole on the driver’s rear side.

Thirty-one-year-old Briseida Flamenco Montoya, a passenger in the vehicle, was killed. She was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.