Mom Who Killed 2 in Soccer Field Incident Won’t Face Charges
Kansas mom who killed two people after driving through a soccer field won’t face charges, DA says.
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A Kansas mother who killed two people when she drove through a soccer field after falling asleep in October 2026 will not face criminal charges, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced Thursday.
Bennett declined to charge the woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, stating, “I cannot prove she consciously disregarded a tremendous risk to people on that field,” according to the Associated Press. Bennett released a 28-page report following an investigation into the incident.
The woman drove onto the soccer field at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita at the time of the incident, according to the same report. Two of her three children were inside the vehicle. The woman was driving her husband’s 2021 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado Trail Boss due to concerns that her normal vehicle was losing air inside its tires.
The woman arrived at the sports complex at 10:40 a.m. on Oct. 17 to attend two soccer games for her younger children, left at the conclusion of both games, and visited two fast food restaurants and a local business before returning for another game. Surveillance camera showed the woman operating the vehicle safely and behaving normally, according to the report.
BREAKING: Driver in deadly Wichita Stryker Sports Complex crash will not be charged, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett has announced: ‘This is not a crime’ #KAKEnews
When the woman returned to the sports complex, she entered a parking stall and reclined her chair to take a nap because she had some time before the third soccer game started. Her 14-year-old daughter placed a sunshade in the windshield as she believed passersby were looking at her mother sleeping in the vehicle.
Video from the sports complex shows the truck began moving and entered the soccer field at 3:22 p.m. The vehicle struck multiple spectators sitting between fields 4A and 4B, turned slightly, traveled west, and then abruptly stopped. The woman awoke to the sound of her 14-year-old daughter screaming in the front passenger seat.
Witnesses reported seeing the sunshade in the truck’s windshield and running over to the truck once it stopped. A male witness pulled the woman from the vehicle and she apologized repeatedly.
Blood test results referenced in the report indicate the woman was not under the influence at the time of the incident. Nicholas Schafer, 35, and Cole Adrian, 6, died of blunt force trauma consistent with being struck by a vehicle as a result of the incident, according to the same report. Eleven other people were injured and sent to the hospital, the Associated Press reported.
The woman told detectives that she thought she’d placed the truck in park, the report from Bennett’s office states.
In a Thursday press conference, Bennett said “not everybody may be at peace” with his decision to avoid charging the woman.
“If I could charge somebody, why wouldn’t I?” Bennett said during the same news conference.
Source: Daily Caller
