WICHITA, Kan. — On Oct. 17, KSHB 41 News brought you information regarding a fatal collision at the Stryker Sports Complex. That Saturday, a 34-year-old woman drove a pickup truck onto a soccer field, where a youth team was playing a game.
Two people, 6-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer, were declared dead at the scene. 11 other individuals were hospitalized, with 10 of them sustaining traumatic, but non-life-threatening injuries.
On Nov. 12, District Attorney Mark Bennett shared the findings from the review of this incident.
According to the D.A.'s report, the driver left Garden City, Kan. around 7 a.m. that Saturday in her husband's Chevrolet to be at soccer games at Stryker Sports Complex that her two 11-year-old children would play in.
After two games, all three children left with the driver to fast food restaurants and a commercial business before coming back to the complex for the next match. At that time, surveillance videos from surrounding businesses captured the driver "walking and behaving normally," and the truck "being operated safely."
Later, the driver parked at Stryker Sports Complex in a parking stall that had an "unobstructed path to the field." Before the car parked, the report stated that the driver "drove at reasonable speeds" and "stopped appropriately for foot traffic."
The driver shared with detectives that she believed the truck was put into park using the gearshift.
During interviews with the driver's children, one 11-year-old said the door was locked when he attempted to leave the truck after it parked. The 14-year-old daughter of the driver also found it locked when she left the vehicle briefly and returned.
The D.A.'s report stated that this Chevrolet truck was "equipped with an automatic door lock when in drive."
The driver told detectives that she took a nap between her children's games, and reclined her seat to do so. Her daughter put up a sunscreen panel in the windshield to prevent people from seeing into the truck, and fell asleep in the back seat.
The D.A.'s office shared that video obtained from Stryker Sports Complex showed the truck "suddenly... moving west over the curb and directly up the concrete entry path to the soccer field: at 3:22 p.m. A review of video capturing the game in progress shows the sunscreen still over the windshield as the truck traveled onto the field.
One of the 11-year-olds, as well as the driver's 14-year-old daughter, were in the car at the time of the incident.
WATCH | 2 dead, 11 injured after vehicle drives through soccer game in Wichita
Afterwards, the driver said she "awoke to her daughters' screams, the feeling of the truck moving, and the sounds of people screaming outside the truck" as she failed to depress the break and forced the truck into park.
Witnesses recall the driver repeatedly apologizing and stating that she was asleep. They also reported that she did not look fully awake at the time. One witness said that her feet were still on the brake pedal when he went to turn the truck off. No witnesses reported the smell of alcohol on her at the time.
The report states that the driver cooperated with the investigation, allowed the collection of her blood, a search of the truck and her phone, and an examination of the vehicle. No impairing substances were found following a toxicology examination of her blood.
It was determined that the driver's seat was reclined back during a later inspection of the truck. No mechanical failures were noted after an exam of the vehicle.
The D.A.s office came to the conclusion that no evidence existed to support that the driver "intentionally, recklessly... or knowingly drove onto the soccer field" that day, and that "Kansas law [did not] support the filing of criminal charges in this case."
To read the D.A.'s full report, click here.
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