Pictured: Toddler, business student and retired couple killed at the OSU homecoming parade when 'drunk' woman, 25, plowed her car into the crowd, throwing them in the air 'like toy soldiers'
- Two-year-old Nash Lucas named among four killed during crash yesterday
- Student Nikita Prabhakar also named locally as being among the casualties
- Marvin Stone, a retired OSU professor, killed along with wife Bonnie
- Both died after Adacia Chambers, 25, drove car into homecoming parade
- Chambers has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence
- Witness says she left her restaurant job in tears 30 minutes before crash
- Doctors say a total of 46 people wounded, including 11 age 13 and below
Mourning relatives and friends have identified the four victims who died after a car plowed into the crowd watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade yesterday.
Nash Lucas, 2, died Saturday evening at Oklahoma University Medical Center from his injuries, while business student Nikita Prabhakar, 23, and a retired couple were pronounced dead earlier in the day.
Driver Adacia Chambers, 25, has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence after she took her Hyundai Elantra into a crowd of parade-goers in Stillwater, Oklahoma, around 10.30am.
Forty-six people were treated for injuries after the crash that sent people flying 'like little toy army men,' and 11 of those victims were ages 13 or below.
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Nash Lucas, two, was among four people killed yesterday when a suspected drunk driver hit crowds watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade at 10.30am yesterday
Lucas was killed when this Hyundai Elantra by Adacia Chambers, 25, plowed into crowds watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade. Above, witnesses attend to victims
Student Nikita Prabhakar, originally from Mumbai, India, has been named as among the four killed yesterday. She had been studying for an MBA at University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, near Oklahoma City
Professor emeritus Marvin Stone and his wife were also killed in the crash. He had been an agricultural engineering professor at OSU until 2006, and had a scholarship established in his name
News On 6 has identified Nash Lucas as one of the victims, saying his mother is a current student of OSU and had been attending the parade with him.
According to the station, she issued a statement saying she was 'thankful for the support and prayers' she has received since the crash.
The boy's father, Josh, has also paid tribute on Facebook
The same channel named another one of the victims as Nikita Prabhakar, originally from Mumbai, India, who was an MBA student at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.
'Our students come to Central with their unique goals, hopes and dreams, and Nikita was undoubtedly no different,' UCO's president Don Betz said.
The other other adult victims, Marvin and Bonnie Stone, both 65, were Stillwater residents.
Dr Marvin Stone had been a professor at Oklahoma State University before retiring in 2006.
The award-winning agricultural engineering academic also had a scholarship established in his honor.
Grainy footage has also emerged showing the moment Chambers' car skids into the crowds lining the street, dragging wreckage along behind it.
According to witnesses Chambers's Hyundai Elantra was driving up to 50mph before running into a parked police motorcycle and then hitting spectators.
'It was kind of like little toy army men flying,' OSU alum and witness Larry Williams told ABC.
Driver Adacia Chambers, 25, is being held in police custody accused of driving under the influence following the fatal collision
Chambers was led away by police after the incident. A witness next to the restaurant where she worked, Freddy's, said that she was crying as she left the establishment 30 minutes before the crash
Grainy cell phone footage has since emerged showing the moment Chambers' car (circled) skids into crowds packed along the side of the street, dragging a trail of wreckage behind it
One witness said that those at the scene were thrown 'like little toy army men'. Above, Chambers's car after the crash
'People flew in all different directions and then the car proceeded on through the intersection and hit the southwest corner of the intersection'.
The Good Samaritan is trained in CPR and said he tried to do his best to tend to the wounded until 'true medical people like the nurses and the doctors' came.
Hospital officials had previously said that 34 people were wounded in the crash, with eight of them in critical, nine suffering serious injuries, and another 17 with minor wounds.
That number was later upped to 44, and on Sunday morning police said that 16 remained hospitalized, with five in critical condition.
The remaining critically injured are Sherry Bates, 40, Kelly Murphy, 41, Diana Rodriguez, 37, Leo Schmitz, 60, and Mary Annette Turner, 61, according to Stillwater Police.
Captain Kyle Gibbs told reporters that the critically injured spectators had been flown from the scene by air ambulance.
They were taken to Tulsa as well as to Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
Among the injured was Madison Atwell, seven, who suffered five broken ribs, a bruised lung, and a serious cut to her forehead during the accident, and had to be airlifted to hospital
Kelly Murphy, 41, was among those still critically injured and in hospital the morning after the crash
Madison Atwell had been with her grandmother Debbie, 55 (left), at the parade. Her aunt Kayleigh, 20 (right), remains in hospital and was in fair condition Saturday morning
Nash Lucas's mother Nicolette Strauch was also injured in the incident, but was released after being treated
Among those airlifted to hospital was Madison Atwell, seven, who was planning to attend her first Cowboys game when she was caught up in the accident.
According to Facebook posts by her stepmother Tasha Thomason Atwell, a U.S. Army soldier, she suffered five broken ribs and a bruised lung.
Tasha also posted that Madison is suffering from a head wound which doctors will now have to staple or stitch shut.
She wrote: 'My sweet little OSU fan went to Stillwater this weekend to spend some time with her Kay Kay and Gigi and to experience homecoming cowboy style!
'She was supposed to get to go to her first OSU football game yesterday. Instead she took her first helicopter ride as she was life flighted from the homecoming parade in Stillwater to OKC'.
Madison's aunt Kayleigh is still in hospital but stable, and is undergoing knee surgery for her injuries and her grandmother suffered a broken rib but has been released, according to a GoFundMe page for the family.
The 17 that remain in hospital include six children: a 12-year-old, Madison Atwell, three six-year-olds and a one-year-old.
The preteen and the infant are listed in good condition, while the others are listed as 'fair'.
Chambers's father Floyd said that he 'can’t imagine alcohol being involved' and his daughter is not an alcoholic. Above, the scene on Saturday
Oklahoma State students Kelly Cooke, right, and Rebecca Buchanan read tributes that others have left at the site of yesterday's accident before adding their own
Grieving residents of Stillwater, where yesterday's accident took place, have begun leaving tributes at the spot where Chambers' car hit crowds as they watched the homecoming parade
Chamber's father has also spoken out to defend his daughter this evening, saying he 'cannot believe' she was involved in the accident.
Floyd Chambers, speaking to The Oklahoman newspaper, said: 'I can’t figure this out. This is not the person that’s my daughter.
'I can’t imagine alcohol being involved. She is not an alcoholic. This is just not who she is. They’re going to paint her into a horrible person but this is not (her).'
Speaking through tears, he added: 'My heart goes out to those people and all of them who are injured. It’s just a bad thing.
'I know this isn’t something that she would have done deliberately I know that she’s not that person.'
Justin DeNoya, 36, told the Stillwater News Press that he had seen Chambers leave her workplace, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, 30 minutes before the crash and she was crying.
Both he and the owner of the restaurant said that the employee, who was still in her uniform at the time of the crash, did not appear drunk when leaving.
Earlier in the day, University officials said: 'The Oklahoma State University Homecoming parade is the most wholesome of events and to have it marred in such a way is incomprehensible'.
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis said there had been discussion about canceling the homecoming game Saturday afternoon 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.
Even as the game began, some of the bodies remained at the scene of the crash less than three blocks away from the stadium.
National Guard troops kept watch as officials with the Red Cross and state medical examiner's office continued their work.
Before kickoff, members of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who are currently playing the Kansas Jayhawks, were pictured kneeling on the pitch and praying
At one end of the Cowboy's stadium, the flag was pictured flying at half mast as a mark of respect for those killed and injured (left) while the crowd watched on as the players prayed on the sidelines (right)
Staff and players from the Oklahoma State Cowboys huddle together on the pitch ahead of their game against the Kansas Jayhawks following the crash yesterday
Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin spoke to reporters during halftime between the Cowboys and the Jayhawks to speak about the crash earlier in the day
Hundreds of fans wearing the school's bright orange and black colors were forced to walk by the intersection as they headed to the game.
More than 80,000 people attend homecoming activities at Oklahoma State University, according to the OSU Alumni Association, but it's unclear how many people were at the parade.
Witnesses at the scene were shocked by the incident as it occurred.
'At first we thought it was part of the show,' Konda Walker, a 1991 OSU alumna, told the Stillwater News Press. 'People were flying 30 feet into the air like rag dolls.'
Others first thought that the parade had been targeted with a bomb.
The route takes the groups up along Stillwater's Main Street until it intersects with Hall of Fame Avenue, which leads to the OSU stadium.
Chambers's car came south on Main Street and hit the end of the parade route, according to officials.
Gibbs did not say whether Chambers was visibly drunk, but added that there was probable cause for arresting her for driving while intoxicated.
Officers are now waiting for the results of blood tests to determine for sure whether Chambers was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time.
Chambers is not believed to be an OSU student.
Police say that Adacia Chambers, 25, drove her Hyundai Elantra into the end of the parade route. Above, police investigate a damaged car at the scene
Among the injured police say eight have been critically wounded, nine received serious injuries while 17 others were treated as 'walking wounded' with only minor injuries
The driver is thought to have run into a police motorcycle at speed before running into parade spectator
Witnesses said that the motorcycle, which was not occupied, went flying into the air as parade-goers went fleeing for their lives
Oklahoma State President Vaden Burns Hargis said that the university had thought about not playing their homecoming game against Kansas, but has decided to go on with the game and 'remember' those who had died in the incident.
A moment of silence was held before the game, as supporters posted under the hashtag StillwaterStrong for solidarity.
Despite the heartbreaking scenes earlier in the day, Oklahoma went on to win the game against the Jayhawks 58-10, dominating the game from start to finish.
Kansas were forced to kick on third down during their first possession of the game, before Oklahoma made 70 yards in nine plays to score with their first attacking drive.
Backup quarterback J.W. Walsh ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more before freshman Taylor Cornelius took over late in the third.
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.
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.
Some first thought that the parade had been targeted with a bomb when the commotion started. Above, parade spectators react to the scene of the crash
Oklahoma State Presideny Vaden Burns Hargis said that the school's football team would still play Kansas in the homecoming game on Saturday. Above, OSU supporters at the scene
- Three Dead At OSU Homecoming Parade In Stillwater - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |
- Update: At least three dead, multiple people injured after car plows into Homecoming parade - Stillwater News Press: News
- Father of OSU crash suspect speaks out | News OK
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- Oklahoma State crash: Children, infants injured - CNN.com
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- Oklahoma State University Homecoming Good Samaritan Describes Crash as Watching 'Little Toy Army Men Flying' - ABC News
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