NTSB: Driver sped up moments before Oklahoma parade crash
TULSA, Okla. — The woman accused of driving her car into spectators at Oklahoma State University’s homecoming parade and killing four people sped up as she approached the parade route, according to a federal report released Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported that co-workers who saw 26-year-old Adacia Chambers before the crash said she seemed distracted. The agency said her “emotional distress” was the probable cause of the crash that also injured dozens of people on Oct. 24, 2015.
The report said Chambers’ car accelerated from 54 mph to 59 mph in the five seconds before she struck a police motorcycle blocking the roadway along the parade route. The NTSB reports that she applied the brakes after hitting the motorcycle, though the report doesn’t say how fast she was driving when she hit the crowd. The speed limit in the area was 35 mph, according to the report.
The report examined how Chambers’ emotional state may have influenced her driving performance. According to Chambers’ restaurant co-workers, when Chambers reported to work the morning of the crash, she “seemed emotionally distracted and had difficulty performing job-related tasks that she normally did well.”