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Mom who drove a truck onto a Kansas soccer field, killing two learns fate after revealing 'she was asleep'
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The driver of a Chevrolet pickup truck that drove onto a soccer field and left two dead has learned her fate almost a month after the incident.
On October 17, the vehicle rolled across Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas, leaving two dead.
The deceased were named as six-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer, while other victims aged from five to 68 were left injured.
While the unidentified driver was taken into custody, police said that they were released soon after, with it soon being revealed that the individual responsible was a Kansas mom.
However, it was revealed on Thursday (November 12) that she will not face charges for her actions, as it was found that she was sleeping in the driver's seat during the fatal accident.
Authorities reveal new evidence
Police were awaiting toxicology results before officially confirming that the mom was not under the influence at the time of the incident.
Marc Bennett, the Sedgwick County District Attorney, stated: “I have zero evidence that this was in any way impacted by intoxication, driving under the influence,” in a press conference streamed by KAKE.
However, investigators also explored any possibility of the fatal smash being an 'intentional act'.
Bennett further explained: “I cannot only find no evidence of an intentional crime, I can find affirmative evidence that there was not an intentional crime.”
Therefore, it was confirmed that the woman in question will not face criminal charges.
She and her two children, aged 14 and 11, were interviewed by police as they discovered that she told her kids 'she was going to take a nap' in the vehicle.
Officials don't know whether her car was in park, but they believe she may have accidentally taken her foot off the brake and pressed the accelerator.
The mom of two told authorities she woke up at 6AM that morning and drove her husband's truck, which she had only been using for a few days, 200 or so miles from her home in Garden City.
Bennett said: “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.”
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said that no faults were found with the truck she was driving.
Bennett recalled events
After arriving at Stryker Sports Complex at around 10:40AM, she left around 1:20PM before returning an hour later.
The mom parked near one of the fields, with the crash taking place less than an hour after this.
Bennett added: “She parks. She tells her kids she’s tired, which would be consistent with having gotten up that morning and driven that far,
“[She] takes her seat all the way back and goes to sleep.”
Authorities believe it is unlikely that she put the car in drive by accidentally knocking the gear stick with her leg.
“[You] can’t put it in gear unless the foot’s on the brake,” Bennett pointed out, as the woman said she woke up to her kids 'screaming', with the mom horrified after realizing what was happening.
She was heard shouting, as she was pulled from the pickup truck: “Oh my God, Oh my God, what have I done?!”
“She’s disoriented; she’s trying to sit up from a completely relaxed position to sit forward,” Bennett claimed.
“Reaches for the steering wheel, looks up, sees shades that were not there when she went to sleep, batting at them.”