At least four students - Meagan Richardson, 19, Brooke Deckard, 20, Katelyn Woodlee, 18, and Jaiden Pelton , 20, died in an accident after their bus collided with an 18-wheeler truck. All the students were members of the Texas community college softball team.
The driver of the truck, a 53-year-old Russell Staley from Saginaw, Texas said that he was distracted from something in his cabin. No additional details were released. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton said that the investigation is still ongoing and evidences are being collected from both the bus and the truck. Aside from the deaths resulting from the accidents, at least a dozen of people were injured including Bailey Buchanan, 18, who's being attended at Oklahoma University Medical Center. He's now in a stable condition. Another one who's injured is Rachel Hitt, 19, who's in fair condition at Norman Regional Hospital.
The accident happened last Friday when Staley's truck bound to Interstate 35 veered and collided with the bus that is carrying the woman's softball team, from North Central Texas College. The victims were immediately taken to several hospitals near the scene of the accident. The bus is being driven by the team's coach, Robert Sumwalt and according to him, the truck still continued to go straight after it hit the bus. He was asked if it is possible that the driver fell asleep, he simply answered, "That's going to be the million dollar question."
Brent Wallace, NCTC college president said, "This is the most traumatic event that NCTC has had in its 90 years of history." A vigil was held last Sunday for the students who died and were injured because of the accident. NCTC was described as a tight-knit community.
The investigation could take up to 10 weeks. The authorities handling the case will treat the case as a homicide and will include toxicology reports, scene reconstruction and statements from the witness.
Background check is also being done on Staley. Staley works for Quickway Transportation from Nashville, Tennessee. The company is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and it is expected that NTSB is going to give an update on the results of their investigation at least by Monday.
