Wichita Police Debunk Rumors Swirling Around Deadly Soccer Field Crash

Wichita police spent part of this week doing something investigators rarely have to do so publicly: correcting the record on their own case. Four days after a pickup truck drove into a crowd at a youth soccer complex in east Wichita, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, the department said false claims spreading online about the driver's identity and immigration status were adding to the pain of an already devastating week.

The truck drove across a parking lot and onto an active field at the SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 17, striking players, parents and spectators gathered for youth soccer games. Six-year-old Cole Adrian and 35-year-old Nicholas Schafer, both of McPherson, Kansas, died at the scene. Neither was related to the other. Ten more people, ranging in age from 5 to 68, were taken to area hospitals with injuries that police have described as non-life-threatening.

A driver released, then a case in limbo

The driver, a 34-year-old woman from Garden City, stayed at the scene and cooperated with officers, according to Wichita police. Two of her children were in the truck with her, and a third was playing on a neighboring field when the crash happened. Detectives say a preliminary review of the scene found that her pickup had been parked near the fields before it moved onto one of them and struck multiple people; what is still not established is why.

Police took the woman into custody that night, then released her Sunday morning without filing charges, after consulting with the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office. Investigators said they did not have probable cause to arrest her based on what was known at the time, and officials have been careful to stress that the release is not the end of the matter. Detectives say they have now interviewed close to 50 witnesses and are awaiting results of a toxicology screen and a mechanical inspection of the truck before turning their findings over to prosecutors. The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office, led by Marc Bennett, will ultimately decide whether any criminal charges are warranted; no timeline has been given for that decision.

• 2 dead: a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, both of McPherson
• 10 injured, ages 5 to 68, with non-life-threatening injuries
• 34-year-old Garden City woman questioned and released without charges
• Nearly 50 witnesses interviewed as of this week

Rumors fill the gap, then get knocked down

With no name released and no charges filed, speculation moved quickly into the vacuum. One version circulating on social media claimed the driver was an off-duty Sedgwick County sheriff's deputy, identifying her as Deputy Rachel Taylor. The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office said flatly that the claim was false and that Taylor was not behind the wheel of the vehicle involved. A separate rumor held that the driver was in the country illegally; the Wichita Police Department said that claim, too, was false, adding that the woman and her husband have no association, past or present, with the Police Department, the Sheriff's Office or any other law enforcement agency. Investigators also said she has no documented criminal history, holds a valid driver's license and had no outstanding warrants.

Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan addressed the rumors directly at a briefing Tuesday, acknowledging that the decision to release the driver without charging her "may not be popular" with people who have strong opinions about the case without knowing the underlying facts. He said the department's obligations run to the law and the Constitution, not to public sentiment, and that officers would continue following the evidence rather than the online conversation around it.

Spreading rumors and unverified accusations causes further pain for grieving families and harms people who have no connection to this case.

That line, delivered by police as part of their Tuesday statement, was aimed as much at national commentary as at local gossip: the crash drew attention well beyond Kansas within hours, in part because it happened next to the first-ever Kansas State High School Activities Association girls flag football state semifinals, a sport the association sanctioned for competition only this year. Teams and families from the Kansas City area, including Shawnee Mission West and Shawnee Mission South, were on an adjacent field when the truck came through.

A sport's milestone weekend, overshadowed

KSHSAA suspended its championship games immediately after the crash, with no new date announced for several days. The remaining semifinal matchups, all involving Johnson County teams, were rescheduled for Wednesday evening at Shawnee Mission South Stadium in Overland Park, days after players and coaches had gathered for vigils and, in at least one case, a team rosary before returning to practice. The city of Wichita closed the Stryker complex, an 11-field facility that normally draws well over 100,000 visitors a year for soccer, football and other tournaments, and canceled other scheduled events there "until further notice."

A community vigil was set for Wednesday evening at the complex's stadium, with grief counselors and police on hand for anyone who wanted support. The gathering is meant partly as a counterweight to the past several days of online speculation, giving residents a place to mourn the two victims without the noise that has attached itself to the case.

What investigators still need

Detectives have asked anyone with video or photos from the scene to submit them through the department's online evidence portal rather than posting them to social media, where investigators say unverified clips have fueled some of the false claims about the driver. The toxicology results and the vehicle inspection are the two outstanding pieces of the investigative file; once both are complete, Wichita police say they will forward their findings to the district attorney's office, which will then decide whether to pursue charges. Sullivan has not estimated when that review might conclude, and the driver has not been publicly named by authorities.

For now, the only certainty in Wichita is the same one that has hung over the city since Saturday evening: two people, a child and a man with no connection to each other beyond the field they were standing on, did not come home.