Oklahoma State students Kelly Cooke, (right) and Rebecca Buchanan read messages on a memorial near where a auto crashed into spectators during the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade.
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A relative of a man who was badly injured when a vehicle crashed into a crowd at a parade said all he remembers is a sound and then his stepfather was no longer standing next to him. A few victims were sent flying through the air.
Forty-four people were injured in the crash that shocked the crowd at OSU’s homecoming parade.
Leo Schmitz, 54, was listed by police earlier on Sunday as in critical condition at the OU hospital.
Adacia Avery Chambers, 25, has been arrested for drink driving after the tragic collision yesterday morning in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Blood tests are being done to determine whether she was impaired by alcohol or drugs. “They’re going to paint her into a disgusting person but this is not (her)”, Floyd Chambers told the paper.
According to a police statement, Chambers drove her 2014 Hyundai Elantra into an unmanned police motorcycle before careening into the crowd of spectators. Another three people were killed on the scene.
After the crash, Oklahoma State University said it decided against cancelling its homecoming football game, which went ahead as planned against Kansas and was dedicated to the victims.
Of the almost 50 people injured, about one quarter were juveniles between the ages of 1 and 13. From the initial report she is not believed to be student of OSU.
“At first we thought it was part of the show”, she told the Stillwater News Press.
“My roommate was like “do not look, do not look” because they were putting bags over people, and she was like ‘you don’t want to look there.’ It was just really scary”, said Carter.
A few bodies were still at the location – less than three streets away from the stadium – as the football game kicked off. National Guard troops kept watch as Red Cross officials and state medical examiner’s office continued their work.
A auto that plowed through a packed Oklahoma State University homecoming parade Saturday morning struck a total of 51 people, killing four including a toddler, graduate student and a married couple, authorities said. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said on Twitter that she was en route to Stillwater and that her thoughts and prayers were with those affected.
It’s not the first wrenching tragedy Oklahoma State has had to endure.
In 2011, the women’s head basketball coach and an assistant were killed in a plane crash in Arkansas.
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“The families, I know, and these victims will never be able to understand this, nor will we”, Mr Hargis said. We were celebrating friendships and family and the Cowboy spirit.
