WICHITA, Kan. — The driver whose pickup rolled onto a youth soccer field at Stryker Sports Complex last month, killing two people and hurting 10 more, will not face criminal charges, the county’s top prosecutor, District Attorney Marc Bennett, announced Thursday.
The Oct. 17 crash took the lives of a man, 35, and a boy, 6. Bennett said the 34-year-old driver from Garden City had been napping in a reclined seat in what she believed was a parked truck before it jumped a curb and crossed the field. She has not been publicly named.
Bennett and the city’s police chief, Joe Sullivan, said investigators found no sign of intent, impairment or a mechanical fault. A blood test showed no intoxicating substances, a recall and history check of the vehicle turned up nothing, and police reviewed 60 videos, 41 emergency calls and more than 100 witness interviews.
Bennett said Kansas law requires an intentional, knowing or reckless act for charges in a case like this, and negligence alone does not qualify. He said any further claims would be a civil matter.
