Prosecutors on Thursday charged a Lincoln man with manslaughter in connection with a traffic crash last week that killed an 8-year-old boy.
Brandon Valentine, 22, said little at his first appearance in Lancaster County Court on the charge Thursday afternoon.
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Dan Zieg alleged in the criminal complaint that Valentine killed Camden King while driving recklessly March 16.
The 22-year-old's pickup hit a car turning onto Cotner Boulevard last week, killing the 8-year-old passenger.
Valentine had been drinking prior to the early morning crash, which killed Camden King and injured his father, Jesse, police said Thursday.
Valentine, police said, had several alcohol containers in his Ford F-150 pickup and was traveling 85 mph within seconds of hitting the Kings' westbound Volkswagen Golf as it turned left from Garland Street onto Cotner at 6:34 a.m.
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The speed limit on that stretch of Cotner is 30 mph. Investigators tested Valentine's blood alcohol level at .06, within the legal limit to drive of .08.
The Randolph Elementary student died March 16 at Bryan West Campus after crews freed him from the car. A service for Camden will be 11 a.m. Friday at United Lutheran Church, 59th and Fremont streets.
The father was thrown from the car in the collision and suffered a broken pelvis, according to police. He was released from Bryan West Campus earlier this week.
Lincoln Public Schools was on spring break last week, and Jesse King was dropping Camden off at day care on his way to his job at Glass Edge.
Jesse King told investigators he stopped at the stop sign, looked both ways and didn’t see Valentine's truck before beginning his left turn from Garland onto Cotner.
A motorist at a red light on Holdrege Street told investigators Valentine’s pickup had accelerated “so fast that the back end of his vehicle fishtailed around the corner†when it turned north onto Cotner after the light turned green. The witness also said the pickup was three blocks ahead of his car by the time he made the same turn onto Cotner.
Investigators say the pickup's airbag module indicated Valentine’s truck was going 67 mph at the time of impact. Police also have a video of the crash that supports their belief about how fast he was traveling.
Valentine had told investigators he was traveling 45 mph. He was not transported for medical care.
After interviewing him at the scene that day, police arrested him Wednesday night.
Judge Matt Acton on Thursday told Valentine, who has lived in the area for three years and worked construction, he would need to hire an attorney on his own.
This decision came despite a request by a deputy Lancaster County public defender that Valentine receive a court-appointed lawyer because of the serious charge and Valentine's admission he has only $1,500 and a job that ends in two weeks.
Acton ordered Valentine be held on $250,000 bond and instructed him not to drive or drink alcohol if he's able to post 10 percent, or $25,000.
If convicted, Valentine faces up to 20 years in prison.