A Kansas mom who crashed her truck into a soccer game, killing two people – including a 6-year-old boy, won’t face charges as authorities revealed Thursday that she was sleeping during the deadly accident.
The unidentified driver, 34, plowed into the crowd of people at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita on Oct. 17 – killing Adrian Cole, 6, and Nicholas Schafer, 35, and injuring 10 others, whose ages range from 5 to 68.
Authorities had been waiting for the outcome of toxicology results before confirming there was nothing to suggest she was under the influence.
“I have zero evidence that this was in any way impacted by intoxication, driving under the influence,” Marc Bennett, the Sedgwick County District Attorney, said in a press conference streamed by KAKE.
Trying to work out what caused the fatal smash, investigators examined whether it was 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 added.
The woman will not be hit with criminal charges, investigators confirmed.
Investigators interviewed the woman and her two children, 14 and 11, and she revealed she told her kids “she was going to take a nap” in the Chevrolet truck.
It’s unclear if she had put her car in park – leading officials to believe she may have accidentally taken her foot off the brake and pressed the gas.
The mom told investigators she had woken up at 6 a.m. on Oct. 17 and driven her husband’s truck – a vehicle she had only been using for a few days – some 200 miles from Garden City, where she lives.
“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 added.
The mom first arrived at the Stryker Sports Complex at around 10:40 a.m., before leaving at around 1:20 p.m. and then returning around an hour later, parking near one of the fields.
The crash happened less than an hour after she returned.
“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 would’ve been unlikely that the mom put her car in drive by accidentally knocking the stick with her leg.
“[You] can’t put it in gear unless the foot’s on the brake,” Bennett said.
The woman told investigators she woke up to her kids “screaming.”
The mom was horrified after realizing what had happened.
“Oh my God, Oh my God, what have I done?!” she shouted as she was pulled from the car by horrified witnesses in the immediate aftermath.
“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 faults with the truck she was driving.
Dispatchers were heard labelling the smash an “MCI” referring to a mass casualty incident in audio obtained by Fox News.
