{"id":51755,"date":"2025-12-26T02:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T08:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=51755"},"modified":"2025-12-26T04:38:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T10:38:45","slug":"nebraska-grandfather-killed-in-freak-accident-at-mcdonalds-drive-thru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=51755","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska grandfather killed in &#8216;freak accident&#8217; at McDonald\u2019s drive-thru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A grandfather was killed just days before Christmas in what officials have described as a &#8220;freak accident&#8221; at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/news-events\/drive-thru-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">McDonald&#8217;s&nbsp;drive-thru<\/a>&nbsp;in Nebraska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Dickinson, 69, was crushed to death after he was pinned between his vehicle and the payment window on Tuesday morning in Grand Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grand Island police<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Police said the victim&#8217;s next of kin were notified of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A grandfather was killed in what officials described as a &#8220;freak accident&#8221; at a McDonald&#8217;s&nbsp;drive-thru in Nebraska.&nbsp;(iStock)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Police Division Chief Dean Elliott told KSNB-TV that the incident was &#8220;100% a freak accident.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It appears the deceased opened the door to further reach out of the window for payment purposes,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We\u2019re not sure if the vehicle lurched forward or what happened, but he became pinned between the door frame and the drive-thru window counter,&#8221; Elliott added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Dickinson, 69, was crushed to death after he was pinned between his vehicle and the payment window.&nbsp;(iStock)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A McDonald\u2019s employee attempted to save the man by vaulting through the passenger side of the car, but was unsuccessful in the effort to free Dickinson, Elliott told KSNB. The employee was also injured in the rescue attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The incident remains&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">under investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Dickinson&#8217;s right leg was amputated in 2021, his daughter wrote on Facebook, adding that he was fitted with a prosthetic a few months later and re-learned how to walk. She did not say why his leg was removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His family remembered &#8220;his love&#8221; on their first Christmas without him, recounting his willingness &#8220;to help and be there when it mattered most.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Grand Island Police Division Chief Dean Elliott said the incident was &#8220;100% a freak accident.&#8221;&nbsp;(Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;A skilled and hardworking mechanic, Michael took pride in his work and had a gift for fixing what was broken. It reflected who he was \u2013 reliable, practical, and dedicated,&#8221; his family wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Though his life was cut short, Michael\u2019s love, loyalty, and kindness will live on in the hearts of his family and friends. He will be dearly missed and always remembered,&#8221; the post added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/nebraska-grandfather-killed-freak-accident-mcdonalds-drive-thru#&amp;_intcmp=fnhpbt8\">foxnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A grandfather was killed just days before Christmas in what officials have described as a &#8220;freak accident&#8221; at a&nbsp;McDonald&#8217;s&nbsp;drive-thru&nbsp;in Nebraska. Michael Dickinson, 69, was crushed to death after he was pinned between his vehicle and the payment window on Tuesday morning in Grand Island. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":51756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[33514,2514,1441],"class_list":["post-51755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-grandfather","tag-nebraska","tag-was"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51757,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51755\/revisions\/51757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}