Memorial site for fatal crash victim torn up by vandal

A small site meant to honor the life of a young Lincoln man who was killed in a motorcycle accident was pulled apart by a vandal. Security footage catches glimpses of the incident.

The site of a motorcycle crash that claimed the life of a Lincoln man in early March has had a memorial to honor his legacy for months.

Thursday night, however, the memorial was destroyed.

“This memorial was up for five months and just all of a sudden someone decided to destroy it. And he destroyed and hurt a lot of people when he did it,” says Brenda Uhing, the mother of Blaine Henderson who was the victim of the fatal crash.

Henderson was killed at 10th and High streets on March 4 when his motorcycle collided with a drunk driver.

Friday morning, Uhing received a video of Blaine’s memorial. What is normally filled with flowers, posters, and crosses, was torn down. The items were lying in the grass, some of them unsalvagable.

“You know we put pictures up and flowers to remember his life and it just was kind of painful that someone would do something like that,” Uhing tells Channel 8 Eyewitness News reporter Marlo Lundak.

“It’s a place for us, and the rest of the families and friends to come and share memories and pay tribute to our sons,” says Jamie Barrett, a friend of Uhing’s.

Barrett understands Uhing’s pain, however. She also lost her son, Connor Brown, in a motorcycle accident in Milford. Tuesday marks four months since the day of his death.

When she heard what happened to Blaine’s memorial, Barrett says she was hurting for Uhing. The next day, the two came to the memorial to clean up and replace what they could.

“For someone to just make such a senseless act and destroy it for such a kind loving soul, it doesn’t make sense at all,” Barrett says.

Channel 8 reached out to the businesses that surround the intersection for any security footage that might show what happened that night. Although it’s small and at the edge of video, a person can be seen walking up to the memorial Thursday night at 10.

Uhing and Barrett were shocked to see that as the vandal was removing the memorial, cars were driving by.

“Oh my gosh. No-one stopped to do anything.”

After more than a minute the small figure in the footage can be seen walking away. The next morning is when the two learned what happened.

Family members and friends of Blaine, including his mother and Barrett, are left wondering.

“I would want to know why. My son was loved by so many people,” Uhing says.

The business at the intersection of 10th and High Streets tell Uhing they hope to get security cameras on the front of their building to hopefully prevent others from destroying the memorial, but also to help capture the damage that is caused at the intersection, which sees crashes regularly.

For now, Uhing is hoping others will respect the memorial. She and Barrett also hope to see a stop sign or traffic signal be put at the intersection to help save more lives.