Police have identified the man who was killed Thursday afternoon when a large tree branch fell on a house in the Country Club neighborhood and caused the chimney to collapse.
The Lincoln Police Department said Kevin Clements, 59, died when the chimney fell through the house after being struck by the tree branch.
The debris landed on Clements, who was inside, Lincoln Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Michael Smith said Thursday. Clements was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rescue crews responded to the 2700 block of Manse Avenue at about 1:10 p.m.
On Friday, Mike Murman choked up when talking about Clements, who he worked with for several years.
Murman, who founded Pen-Link, hired Clements in the late 1980s when the company, which provides communications, surveillance and other software to law enforcement and military clients, was just starting up.
By the time Murman retired and left the company in 2013, Clements was a vice president and one of the company’s top executives.
He recalled Clements on Friday as being excellent at marketing and putting together proposals for many of the government contracts the company sought, as well as being a very hard worker.
“He liked to be in the office all night long if that’s what it took,†Murman said.
The two didn’t socialize much outside of work, but Clements contacted Murman earlier this year when he retired from the company and invited him to a retirement party.
That party never happened because of a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time, but Murman said he did get to see Clements a couple of weeks ago at a celebration of Pen-Link’s 35th anniversary.
“In hindsight, that’s kind of been special,†he said.
Clements was also active in the trapshooting community and served on committees at Lincoln's Izaak Walton League.
Murman said the accident that killed Clements is an event that “just kind of goes to show people that you should live every day like it’s your last.â€
LPD, Lincoln Electric System crews and members of the Nebraska Task Force One urban search and rescue team assisted at the scene.
City workers remove a fallen tree limb from the roof of a house at 27th and Manse Avenue. The limb caused the chimney to collapse on Thursday, killing Kevin Clements of Lincoln.