STILLWATER, Oklahoma — At least three people were killed and nearly two dozen injured when a car traveling at high speed plowed into a crowd watching a homecoming parade at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, police said on Saturday.
The driver of the vehicle, Adacia Chambers, 25, was in custody, said Capt. Kyle Gibbs of the Stillwater police. He said there was probable cause to arrest Chambers on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol.
Gibbs said 22 people were confirmed injured, including eight in critical condition. The most seriously injured were flown to hospitals by air ambulance, he said. Earlier, local media reported up to 27 people were taken to the hospital.
“I’ve been here 29 years, and I can’t recall an incident of this magnitude,” Gibbs told reporters at the scene.
Chambers does not appear to have been a student at Oklahoma State University, Gibbs said. He said there was no information available yet about the victims.
“At first we thought it was part of the show,” Konda Walker, a 1991 graduate of OSU, told the local Stillwater News Press. “People were flying 30 feet into the air like rag dolls.”
After the accident, Oklahoma State University said it decided not to cancel its homecoming football game Saturday night against the University of Kansas.
“We’re going to play, and we’re going to remember the victims at the game,” said the school’s president, V. Burns Hargis.