Waukesha tragedy brings back horrifying memory of OSU's homecoming parade car crash
The nation is still coming to terms with the Christmas parade tragedy in Waukesha, Wisconsin that occured on Sunday evening, November 21. Numerous spectators, including children, were killed and over 20 persons were injured when a red SUV plowed into the crowd without warning.
According to police chief Dan Thomspon, the vehicle drove through the barricades, heading westbound on Main Street at 4.39 pm local time. Law enforcement has been unable to provide the total number of lives lost since the next of kin notifications are still being processed. The incident is now evoking memories of an older but similar tragedy, in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Back in 2015, a car crashed into the crowd watching the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade. The incident, which occurred on October 24 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, claimed the lives of four persons and injured more than 40 people.
Reports stated that the crash occurred at 10.31 am Central Time during Oklahoma State University's annual Sea of Orange Homecoming Parade, which was held that morning in preparation for the Oklahoma State Cowboys' football game against the Kansas Jayhawks later that day.
After the parade had passed through the intersection of Hall of Fame Avenue and Main Streets on the university campus (0.40 mile east of Boone Pickens Stadium), 25-year-old Adacia Avery Chambers – a native of Oologah and resident of Stillwater – drove her grey 2014 Hyundai Elantra south on Main at speeds exceeding 40 miles per hour into several barriers used to block commuter traffic and then proceeded to hit an unmanned motorcycle belonging to Stillwater Police Department. Chambers' car then careened into approximately 50 parade spectators before stopping when its two front tires popped the curb on the southwest corner of the intersection.
Victims were flown to other hospitals or transported to Stillwater Regional Medical Center. Right after the crash, the Captain of the Stillwater Police Department at the time, while talking about the casualties, described the injured as the "walking wounded."
The driver, Adacia Chambers, 25, was arrested and detained on suspicion of driving under the influence. She was not a student at OSU, according to Gary Shutt, the university's communications director at the time. Among those who lost their lives that day was 2-year-old Nash Lucas, a child from Stillwater. Another three people died at the scene itself, namely 23-year-old Nikita Prabhaker Nakal, a native of Mumbai, India who was an attending senior at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond; and husband and wife Marvin Lyle and Bonnie Jean Stone, both age 65 and residing in Stillwater. Among the ones who were injured, there were nine children between the ages of 1 and 13.
Chambers was detained at the incident site by Stillwater Police Department officers who were on the scene of the accident on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and she was later booked into the Payne County Jail's detox unit. Blood tests to gauge the levels of any alcohol or narcotic intoxicants in her body – a requirement for police to administer for "serious" vehicle accidents involving a fatality under Oklahoma state law – revealed she had a blood alcohol level of .01 only.
Adacia Avery Chambers later pled no guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and 39 counts of assault and battery with the intent to kill on January 10, 2017. Chambers was sentenced to life in prison for each murder count and ten years in jail for each assault count, all of which will be served concurrently. Chambers will serve a 55-year term and will not be released until she is in her early 70s, awaiting parole for both the life sentence and the assault penalty, according to the plea bargain.