Two people were killed and 10 others injured when a pickup truck drove across a soccer field at a sports complex in Wichita, Kansas, during youth matches on Saturday afternoon.
Six-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer died after the vehicle entered the field at Stryker Sports Complex shortly after 3pm. Five children were among those taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The driver, a 34-year-old mother from Garden City, was released without charge on Sunday pending a toxicology test and a mechanical examination of the vehicle.
Erica Case was watching her nine-year-old son play when she heard an engine revving, followed by a series of loud bangs. She said she then saw the truck crossing the field and debris being thrown into the air.
“I saw the truck hitting things. I saw debris flying in the air,” Case said. “I don’t know if it was a cone, a chair or a person, but you could see matter flying as the truck was barreling through the soccer field at a decent rate of speed.”
She said the nature of the noise became clear only after she realised people had been struck. “The moment that I realized that it wasn’t gunshots, that that was bodies, I lost it,” she said. “I lost it because it wasn’t just adults, it was also children.”
In the aftermath, one mother at the complex shouted that she was a nurse and needed to reach the injured. Case said she offered to look after the woman’s son, taking him to safety while other parents went to help.
Case estimated that emergency services took about 10 minutes to arrive. In the meantime, bystanders attempted to assist those caught in the path of the truck, with some carrying out CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
David Griekspoor, who was at the city-run complex with his nephew, said the crash initially sounded like “small gunfire – bap, bap, bap”. He said he looked up and saw the vehicle moving through a line of people.
Griekspoor said his brother and sister-in-law went to check on children nearby, while he took his nephew away from the scene.
Vanessa Trammell, who was watching her 13-year-old son’s game, said the truck crossed the neighbouring field close to the sidelines and hit several people.
“It was pure panic,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on – just that people were being hit.”
She said her son’s coach was among those who ran to help. A youth player identified only as Isaac said his father went to the truck and removed the driver to prevent further people from being struck.
Police allege that the driver had been parked near the soccer fields before the vehicle entered the field at about 3.25pm. Two of her children were in the back of the truck, while a third was playing in a match on another field.
Investigators have not said whether they suspect intoxication, a medical episode or a mechanical fault. Police have also not explained why the driver was released without charge.
