By Brent Hardin

PLATTSMOUTH - A simple drive to pick up cabinets in Bellevue turned into something much more dramatic for Linda Nosbisch and Dorothy Royal Thursday afternoon.

The Nebraska City residents witnessed a multi-car accident that sent two people to the hospital, scattered debris over a half-mile stretch and closed down Highway 75 by Plattsmouth Country Club for more than two hours.

Nosbisch and Royal watched as a 1989 recreational vehicle motor home traveling northbound on Highway 75 veered left to avoid rear-ending a Freightliner Conventional Cab truck that was turning right into the Plattsmouth Country Club drive. The motor home crossed the center line and hit an oncoming Charter Communications truck traveling southbound. The impact sheared off a three-foot section of the front driver's side of the motor home and took off much of the driver's side of the Charter Communications Dodge Ram pickup truck.

Phillip R. O'Brien, 84, of New Effington, S.D., was the driver of the motor home. Plattsmouth resident Jesse L. Gibson, 34, was the driver of the Charter Communications vehicle.

"All of a sudden I saw debris flying at me and I got onto the shoulder as fast as I could," Nosbisch said. "It just happened so fast. I thought for sure we were going to get hit. Thankfully we didn't."

"We just grabbed each other's hand," Royal said. "I don't remember it but I know it happened because Linda dug her nail into my hand. I was scared. I really thought we were going to get it."

Heartland Tire and Treads driver Brian Van Beek, 36, was en route to a service call to fix a truck tire at Lake Ridge Golf Course at the time of the accident at 1:05 p.m. The Council Bluffs resident said he had been told the golf course was just on the edge of Plattsmouth, but he turned around to go northbound when he did not see the course after traveling to Murray Road. He said he was slowing down to turn into the Plattsmouth Country Club driveway to review directions when the motor home clipped a latch off the rear of his Freightliner truck.

"I didn't feel too much but then I saw the motor home right by me and heard a huge crash," Van Beek said. "It scared me. The noise was just something else."

The momentum of the crash carried both vehicles approximately 200 yards down the road in either direction and left glass, metal, rearview mirrors and blue styrofoam on the highway. Emergency personnel from Plattsmouth Fire and Rescue, Murray Fire and Rescue, Bellevue Fire and Rescue, Plattsmouth Police Department and Cass County Sheriff's Office all responded to the accident.

Bellevue Fire and Rescue transported O'Brien to Midlands Hospital via ambulance. O'Brien suffered minor injuries. His wife, Mary O'Brien, was a passenger in the motor home and was not injured.

Rescue crews used the Jaws of Life to free Gibson from his truck. A StarCare helicopter arrived from Lincoln and landed on the fairway near the maintenance shed at Plattsmouth Country Club. Gibson suffered serious injuries to his left leg and was transported to Creighton University Medical Center. He was in serious but stable condition in an intensive care unit Friday morning.

Nebraska State Patrol officers responded to reconstruct the accident scene and clear debris from the road after both O'Brien and Gibson were taken to the hospital. Traffic was diverted around Highway 75 until authorities cleared the accident scene at 4:15 p.m.

Nosbisch said she would be thinking about the accident for a long time to come.

Nosbisch said she would be thinking about the accident for a long time to come.

"It was just like a tornado coming with all the debris flying around when they hit," Nosbisch said. "It was just like seeing it in slow motion. I'm sure I'm going to see it when I go to sleep tonight."