Prosecutors Decline Charges in Deadly Wichita Crash

Sedgwick County prosecutors will not charge the driver whose pickup crossed a field at Wichita’s Stryker Sports Complex on Oct. 17, killing 6-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer and injuring 10 others. Investigators found no evidence of impairment, a medical episode, mechanical failure or intentional action. The driver said she believed she had put the truck in park before reclining for a nap; investigators said it may have been left in drive and moved after she or a child inadvertently engaged the accelerator, but could not determine exactly what happened. The district attorney said the evidence did not meet Kansas’s legal standard for criminal charges, including recklessness, and that the state has no applicable negligent-homicide offense. Civil litigation remains possible.