Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said Thursday that he will not be charging a 34-year-old woman from Garden City who drove onto a soccer field at Stryker Sports Complex in a deadly incident last month.
The district attorney said the results of a nearly month-long investigation into the accident revealed that the driver fell asleep in what she thought was a parked vehicle.
“As bad as this was, it is not a crime,” Bennet said. “This is a civil matter that will be handled under a negligence standard, which is the standard in civil cases. This is not a crime, and I cannot charge this driver with a crime.”
Two people — 6-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer of McPherson — were killed when the Chevrolet pickup truck drove onto the field and through the sidelines of an active youth soccer match.
Ten people were injured in the incident, ranging in age from 5 years old to 68 years old.
Asked during a news conference Thursday if he thought new evidence could come to light and result in charges against the driver, Bennett said he doubted it.
"I think we're done here," he said, citing more than 100 interviews and an investigation that included footage from security cameras and cell phones, as well as toxicology reports and reenactments with automotive technicians.
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan shared a timeline of events from the day of the crash, which started with the driver leaving Garden City around 6 a.m. to make the trip to Wichita for her children's soccer games.
Bennett said she was driving her husband's truck, which she did not normally drive. After a morning soccer game and running errands with her children, she returned to Stryker, pulled into a parking space facing the field, and laid her seat back to take a nap.
At some point, the woman's daughter covered the windshield with a sun shade. After that, the truck jumped over the curb and onto the field.
Bennett said the driver did not intentionally or knowingly endanger people. He said witnesses recalled her being "sleepy" and "hysterical" when she exited the truck after the crash.
“ I can not only find no evidence of an intentional crime," he said, "I can find affirmative evidence that there was not an intentional crime."
Bennett said investigators believe the woman did not put her vehicle in park, though she thought she had.
"Would Chief Sullivan send the cops through the parking lot now, of every soccer game ... looking for sleepy parents on Saturday mornings who are taking a nap in their car and go, 'Bud, you're guilty of reckless endangering'? ... No, of course not."
This is a developing story, and KMUW will continue to update this report.
