An Omaha surgeon has been charged with manslaughter after prosecutors said he was driving nearly 70 mph over the speed limit when he caused a fatal crash on Dodge Street earlier this month.
Mark A. Carlson, 61, faces one count of manslaughter in connection with the death of 22-year-old Anna Bosma of South Dakota. He remained in the hospital as of Wednesday, according to Deputy Douglas County Attorney Brenda Beadle, and will be taken into custody upon his release.
If convicted of manslaughter, Carlson faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to an arrest affidavit for Carlson, Omaha police officers responded to a crash at 62nd and Dodge Streets at about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 1. Bosma, who was driving a Chevrolet Cruze, was declared dead at the scene.
Citing witness interviews and security footage, officers now allege that Carlson was either racing or engaged in a road rage incident with a black SUV driven by 26-year-old Cameron Robinson before the crash.
People are also reading…
After passing University Drive East, Carlson’s Mercedes E63 AMG left the roadway and struck a metal light pole on the north side of Dodge Street with the rear passenger side of his car. Carlson then crossed four lanes of traffic — three westbound lanes and one eastbound — before entering the farthest eastbound lane and colliding with the Chevy Cruze.
A diagram completed by traffic investigators shows the circumstances of the fatal crash on Sept. 1, 2023, involving Mark Carlson and Anna Bosma. Vehicle 1 was driven by Carlson, and vehicle 2 was driven by Bosma.
Police applied for and were granted a search warrant for the air-bag control module on Carlson’s Mercedes. The data showed that only about two seconds elapsed from the time Carlson hit the light pole to the impact with Bosma’s car.
At the time of impact with the light pole, according to the affidavit, Carlson was traveling 106 mph with “100% accelerator pedal input,” meaning that he was still accelerating at full speed. Half a second before the impact with the Chevy Cruze, the accelerator pedal input remained at 100% and the vehicle was traveling 101 mph.
The speed limit in the area where the crash occurred is 35 mph.
Robinson, the SUV driver who was allegedly racing Carlson, does not face any charges as of Wednesday. Beadle said that Robinson stayed at the scene of the crash and provided a statement to police, but the investigation remains open.
According to his University of Nebraska Medical Center faculty page, Carlson is the director of the Center for Advanced Surgical Technology in addition to being a professor in the department of surgery. He is also a staff surgeon at Omaha’s VA Medical Center.
A spokesperson for the University of Nebraska Medical Center confirmed on Wednesday that a Mark A. Carlson is on the faculty in the department of surgery, but could not comment further on his employment status or confirm that it was the same person charged in relation to the crash.
A spokesman for the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System confirmed Wednesday that Carlson is a staff surgeon at the Omaha facility.
“We are saddened by the situation,” the spokesman said in an email.
Bosma graduated from South Dakota State University in May, according to her obituary, and had just begun an occupational therapy doctorate program at the University of South Dakota. She had a deep love for animals and recently started a Facebook group to organize gatherings for people in Sioux Falls who owned Bernese Mountain Dogs.
“She was greatly loved, and she loved greatly in return,” her obituary reads.
Omaha World-Herald staff writer Julie Anderson contributed to this report.
