Homecoming parade crash kills four at USA university town

As it does here every year, the parade on Saturday, called the Sea of Orange, wound up a mile-long stretch from West Ninth Avenue to West Hall of Fame Avenue, as thousands of spectators – a few of them children being pushed in strollers, and almost all of them dressed in orange – gathered downtown and packed onto Main Street to watch the penultimate event of homecoming weekend.

A moment of silence for the victims in the crash was held before the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game in Norman. A few lingered to look at the aftermath – water bottles, blankets, lawn chairs and other items strewn over the road. “I was sitting right here and she came plowing through”, he said.

The initial death toll was three, but a two-year-old boy died later from his injuries.

After running out onto the field before the game, most of the Oklahoma State players knelt in prayer by the OSU sideline.

Her shocked father, Floyd Chambers, said he struggled to believe his “timid” daughter was involved and denied she is an alcoholic.

After the crash, Oklahoma State University said it decided against canceling its homecoming football game, which went ahead as planned against Kansas and was dedicated to the victims. Bonnie Jean Stone, 65, and Marvin Lyle Stone, also 65, both of Stillwater, were also killed. Earlier in the day tragedy struck at the Oklahoma State homecoming parade as a vehicle ran into a group of parade watchers killing at least three and injuring dozens more. Police are awaiting results of a blood test administered to the suspect after the crash. The crash is being investigated as a homicide, police said.

“It’s been a insane 24 hours”, Mark McNitt said, tearing up as he told reporters about the crash and its aftermath.

Adacia Chambers, a 25-year-old resident of Stillwater, Oklahoma, was charged with suspicion of DUI after police say that her auto first smashed into a police motorcycle and then crashed through a crowd of people attending the Oklahoma State University (OSU) homecoming parade on the morning of October 24.

“People were flying 30 feet into the air like rag dolls”, she told the News Press.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren has issued a statement expressing sympathy to those killed and injured when a auto crashed into people attending the homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University.

The youngest victim was a 1-year-old listed in good condition at a local hospital; the oldest, a 66-year-old woman who was treated for injuries and released. “While we mourn the potential unrealised, let us also honour her life by pulling closer and appreciating the strength of our Broncho family”.