Kansas Mom Won’t Face Charges After Wichita Soccer Field Crash Kills 2
A 34-year-old Kansas mother whose truck struck a youth soccer crowd, killing two people—including a 6-year-old boy—will not face criminal charges after authorities determined she had been asleep when the crash occurred.
The woman drove into spectators at Wichita’s Stryker Sports Complex on Oct. 17, killing Adrian Cole, 6, and Nicholas Schafer, 35. Ten others, ranging in age from 5 to 68, were injured.
Officials waited for toxicology results before confirming that there was no indication the driver had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“I have zero evidence that this was in any way impacted by intoxication, driving under the influence,” Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said during a news conference streamed by KAKE.
As investigators worked to determine what caused the deadly crash, they also examined whether it could have been an “intentional act.”
“I cannot only find no evidence of an intentional crime, I can find affirmative evidence that there was not an intentional crime,” Bennett said.
Investigators confirmed that the woman would not be charged.
During interviews with the woman and her two children, ages 14 and 11, investigators learned that she had told them she planned to “take a nap” inside the Chevrolet truck.
Authorities could not determine whether the vehicle had been placed in park. They believe she may have unintentionally removed her foot from the brake and pressed the accelerator.
The woman told investigators that she had awakened at 6 a.m. on Oct. 17 before driving her husband’s truck roughly 200 miles from their home in Garden City. She had only been using the vehicle for a few days.
“Her normal vehicle had some trouble with the air and tires and she asked her husband to fix it because she was concerned that it would not be safe to drive all the way to Wichita,” Bennett said.
The mother first arrived at the Stryker Sports Complex at about 10:40 a.m. She left around 1:20 p.m. and returned roughly an hour later, parking near one of the soccer fields.
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The crash took place less than an hour after she came back.
“She parks. She tells her kids she’s tired, which would be consistent with having gotten up that morning and driven that far,” Bennett said.
“[She] takes her seat all the way back and goes to sleep.”
Investigators said it was unlikely that the woman had accidentally shifted the truck into drive by bumping the gear selector with her leg.
“[You] can’t put it in gear unless the foot’s on the brake,” Bennett said.
The woman told investigators that she awoke to her children “screaming.”
She was horrified when she realized what had happened.
“Oh my God, Oh my God, what have I done?!” she shouted as witnesses pulled her from the truck in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“She’s disoriented, she’s trying to sit up from a completely relaxed position to sit forward,” Bennett said.
“Reaches for the steering wheel, looks up, sees shades that were not there when she went to sleep, batting at them.”
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said investigators found no mechanical defects in the truck.
Dispatchers described the crash as an “MCI,” or mass casualty incident, in audio obtained by Fox News.
