Lawn chairs, blankets
and water bottles were strewn in the street and bodies remained at the scene as
Oklahoma State University fans walked past an intersection where a woman had
plowed her car into a homecoming parade crowd hours earlier and killed four
people.
See more photos below;
Some lingered Saturday
to look at the aftermath that also included a gray car with a smashed side and
shattered windshield, and a crumpled motorcycle. Dozens more were injured in
the collision that sent some spectators flying through the air.
The driver is suspected
of being under the influence, and investigators were awaiting results of blood
tests to determine if she was impaired by drugs or alcohol.
"You look at the
carnage alone. (Someone) had a little baby stroller crushed up. It's
disgusting," said Dan Whitmire, who was visiting his daughter from Dallas
and had planned to attend Saturday's homecoming game, which was held anyway,
but changed his mind after the crash.
Three adults died at
the scene and a 2-year-old boy died later, Stillwater police Capt. Kyle Gibbs
said. He said 44 people were injured.
Officials with Oklahoma
University Medical Center and The Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City said the
2-year-old was one of eight patients brought there, and that four children and
three adults remained hospitalized with conditions ranging from good to
critical.
Adacia Chambers, a
25-year-old Stillwater resident, was arrested on the DUI charge after the
morning crash and remained jailed Saturday night. Gibbs said Chambers' Hyundai
Elantra struck an unoccupied motorcycle of an officer who was working security
at the parade, then went into the crowd.
"I just saw smoke
and saw the panic in people's faces as they ran away from the scene," said
Geoff Haxton, of Tulsa, who attended the parade with his children.
Another spectator,
Konda Walker, from Anchorage, Alaska, told the Stillwater News Press that some
people initially thought the crash was part of the show.
"People were
flying 30 feet into the air like rag dolls," Walker said.
Gibbs said it could
take several days to get more information about the cause of the accident.
"We treat these like we would any homicide investigation," he said.
Chambers' father, Floyd
Chambers of Oologah, told The Oklahoman newspaper he couldn't believe his
daughter was involved and said she was not an alcoholic. He described her as
"timid" and said she had attended homecoming festivities Friday night
with family but that her boyfriend had told him she was home by 10 p.m.
"This is just not
who she is. They're going to paint her into a horrible person but this is not
(her)," Floyd Chambers told the paper.
A woman who answered a
call to a phone number listed for Floyd Chambers told The Associated Press no
one was available to talk.
Oklahoma State
University President Burns Hargis said there had been discussion about
canceling the homecoming game against Kansas, but it was played as scheduled.
The victims were remembered with a moment of silence before kickoff, and most
of the OSU players knelt on the sideline in prayer.
Hundreds of fans
wearing the school's bright orange and black colors had to walk by the
intersection, less than three blocks from the stadium, as they headed to the
afternoon game. National Guard troops kept watch as officials with the Red
Cross and state medical examiner's office continued their work.
By Saturday evening,
the bodies that had been at the scene encircled by orange cones for most of the
day had been carried away. The car and motorcycle had been loaded onto tow
trucks. Clothes, water bottles and pieces of the car had been hauled away in
large plastic bags.
It's not the first
tragedy to strike events connected to Oklahoma State sports programs. Ten
people, including two OSU men's basketball players, were killed in a 2001 plane
crash while returning from a game in Colorado. And Oklahoma State women's
basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant Miranda Serna were among four killed
in a plane crash in Arkansas in 2011 while on a recruiting trip.
"The families, I
know, and these victims will never be able to understand this, nor will
we," Hargis said. "But the Cowboy family pulls together.
Unfortunately we've had to do it before and we're going to do it again."
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