No charges will be filed against a mother who was behind the wheel of a truck that hit multiple people on a soccer field in Wichita, Kansas, last month, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, the Sedgwick County district attorney said Thursday.
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attorney → file → boy
No charges will be filed against a mother who was behind the wheel of a truck that hit multiple people on a soccer field in Wichita, Kansas, last month, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, the Sedgwick County district attorney said Thursday, according to KAKE-TV.
“This is not a crime, and I cannot charge this driver with a crime,” DA Marc Bennett said during a news conference with the Wichita Police Department, the station noted.
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station → file → Department
We obtained the vehicle history from Chevrolet and Carfax.
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We → obtain → Chevrolet
We checked for recalls and service bulletins.
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We → check → recalls
None were found.'
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None → find → ?
Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said that prior to the Oct. 17 incident, the driver of the Chevrolet truck told her children she was going to take a nap and put her seat all the way back, the station said.
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station → say → seat
After she fell asleep, one of her children put up a sunshade, KAKE said — and an image displayed during in the news conference shows the sunshade against the truck's windshield.
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image → fall → windshield
Sedgwick County Emergency Communications received multiple 911 calls around 3:25 p.m. reporting that a truck had driven onto a soccer field during a match at the Stryker Sports Complex in northeast Wichita, the station said.
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station → receive → Wichita
Cole Adrian, 6, and Nicholas Schafer, 35, both from McPherson, were killed, the station said, while 10 others — ranging in age from 5 to 68 — were injured and taken to hospitals.
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others → kill → hospitals
The station added that as of Thursday none of the surviving victims are facing critical injuries.
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none → add → injuries
Police said the driver of the truck was identified as a 34-year-old woman from Garden City, the station said, adding that her name has not been released.
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name → say → City
The woman departed from Garden City at 7 a.m. and traveled directly to the Stryker Sports Complex with her children, who were participating in soccer matches, the station said, adding that the mother drove for nearly four hours.
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mother → depart → hours
From 1:20 to 2:30 p.m., the driver and her children went to lunch and ran errands, the station said, then returned to the sports complex and where she placed her vehicle in a west-facing parking stall.
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she → go → stall
"I also want to say that when the vehicle returned, in interviews with the driver and the children, the driver told the children that she was going to take a nap, and she put the seat back all the way … and goes to sleep,” Sullivan said Thursday, according to the station.
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Sullivan → want → station
The driver's vehicle was in the parking stall from 2:36 p.m. until 3:22 p.m. when the incident occurred, the station said.
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station → occur → p.m.
Sullivan told the station that after the incident, an off-duty police officer from Dodge City saw that the driver's seat was all the way back when he approached the driver.
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he → tell → driver
The woman was cooperative at all times, Sullivan said, according to the station, and investigators found no impairing substances in the truck or in the blood sample the woman provided.
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woman → say → sample
Investigators after consulting with the DA's office initially lacked probable cause to arrest the driver, the station said, adding that investigators conducted nearly 50 interviews with witnesses and others following the incident.
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investigators → consult → incident
No recalls were found for her vehicle, the station said, and an inspection showed no mechanical issues with the vehicle.
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inspection → find → vehicle
“We obtained the vehicle history from Chevrolet and Carfax," Sullivan said, according to the station.
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Sullivan → obtain → station
"We checked for recalls and service bulletins.
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We → check → recalls
None were found."
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None → find → ?
Sullivan said police recreated the scene with an officer of a similar size and stature, the station said.
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station → say → size
Officials said another truck that was the same make, model, and year as the woman's vehicle was placed in the exact parking stall where the her vehicle was before the incident.
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vehicle → say → incident
Officers found that if the truck was left in drive, it would not go over the curb — meaning the gas pedal had to have been engaged, the station said.
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station → find → curb
District Attorney Bennett said a medical emergency had no role in the incident, there was no evidence of impairment, and she was driving a truck that was not her normal vehicle, the station said.
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station → say → truck
“She drove her husband's truck,” Bennett said, according to the station.
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Bennett → drive → station
“She'd been driving it for a few days, but it was not her normal vehicle.”
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it → drive → days
Bennett also said there's no evidence of an intentional crime, the station said, and that the driver told police that she "put it in park."
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she → say → park
The DA's written report indicates that if the woman had placed the truck in park in the stall before the incident, a number of things would have had to occur in order for the vehicle to be accidentally placed in drive — while she was asleep — which makes such a possibility "less plausible."
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possibility → write → drive
First, the brake pedal would have to be engaged before the column shift moved from park to drive; the shifter would have to move forward from park and then down into drive; the act of shifting from park to drive results in a noise that the driver and the other occupants of the vehicle missed; and then if all the latter occurs, the driver would then have to remove her foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal "while she slept."
The report adds that the possibility the driver thought she placed the vehicle in park but actually left it in drive in the parking stall appears to be the "most likely explanation," as it requires only one final step: the driver inadvertently placing her foot on the gas pedal while asleep.
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driver → have → pedal
Prosecutors could not establish that the driver "knowingly" or "recklessly" endangered anyone, which is required by Kansas law for criminal charges the be considered, Fox News said, adding that the report also notes that a single act of negligence was insufficient to support a vehicular manslaughter charge under state law.
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act → establish → law
What's more, Kansas does not have negligent homicide on the books, KAKE noted, adding that the only crime Bennett could charge is vehicular homicide — but he said there is “not enough” evidence for it.
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he → have → it
Bennett added to the station that if he brought a vehicular homicide charge, he would be guilty of hindsight bias.
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“There are no facts uncovered by this investigation to suggest this was an intentional act.
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this → be → investigation
There are no facts to conclude that this was a knowing act,” Bennett said, according to KAKE.
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Bennett → be → KAKE
“There are no facts in this case uncovered to conclude that this was a reckless act, as that term is defined by Kansas law, not as understood in common parlance as we talk about it in our daily lives.
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we → be → lives
I cannot prove she consciously disregarded a tremendous risk to the people on that field.”
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she → prove → field
DeVaughn James Injury Lawyers confirmed to the station that it is working with some of the affected families on possible civil lawsuits.
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it → confirm → lawsuits
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