I somehow missed this thread when it first appeared in September.. saw it for the first time yesterday. My niece lives in Aurora, Nebraska where the unfortunate driver lived, so I e-mailed her about this accident. Her reply was like a punch in the gut. Regardless of cause, the country lost a good man. He was a SFC career Army man. Here's an excerpt from his obituary... what a shame:

"He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1987 and was a state gymnast for two years. Shawn entered the U.S. Army on Jan. 26, 1986. He was stationed in Germany from 1988 to 1990 and was deployed to Bosnia from 1989 to 1990. He was deployed to Desert Shield and Desert Storm from 1991 to 1992. Shawn served a combat tour in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 with the 561st CSG. He was on the Nebraska Army National Guard Marksmanship Team and was assigned to Det. 1 Training Site Command in Hastings at the time of his death. He was also a cavalry scout for more than 10 years and he was an expert marksman pistol and rifle.
Shawn was a range operations specialist, and the military was his life. Shawn was awarded the following military awards: Bronze Star, two Meritorious Service medals, nine Army Commendation medals, two National Defense Service medals and numerous other service awards."
He and Melissa moved from Kearney, Neb., to Sutton, Neb., in 2008 and moved to Aurora in 2012. He was a member of Peace Lutheran Church in Hastings, Sutton American Legion, Wounded Warrior Project and NRA.