# DUI motorist plows car into crowd during Oklahoma State University homecoming parade. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 24, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655 "2015-10-24T20:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/61 "2015-10-26T18:17:56Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > As an aside - > What is it with this sort of construction? > > She was allegedly drunk, or had allegedly been fired, or was allegedly upset - > But wasn’t she the driver? Isn’t that a factual statement It’s CYA gone wild. In similar newsprint stories I’ve seen references to “the alleged _suspect_.” ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/62 "2015-10-26T18:42:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > :dubious: Lawyer she’s she’s crazy. Her boss praises her. Man, talk about diametrically opposing views. Mentally ill people can be pleasant people. Some are not but sanity and grace are not related. On the other hand being sentenced per person sucks. Also one might as well kill everyone if the price is ten years each and one has already accounted for 7+. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/63 "2015-10-26T19:50:27Z")
**aceplace57’s** own source above, which he quoted in post #45 but apparently didn’t read, says each charge carries a penalty of a minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/64 "2015-10-27T02:27:27Z")
[Here’s a page from The Daily Oklahoman’s website.](http://newsok.com/1-million-bond-set-for-suspect-in-fatal-osu-homecoming-parade-car-crash/article/5456124) It contains links to statements by her attorney and by her boyfriend, father and aunt. Lots of interesting information, including statements by Adacia Chambers’ attorney regarding past hospitalizations, medications and her comportment since her arrest. Her boyfriend outlined the nature of their lives together, various (and many) episodes of stress over the last couple of years, and a description of the last night and morning they spent together prior to the crash. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/65 "2015-10-27T04:46:10Z")
Nice link Starving Artist Thanks. I’ll read the documents later tonight. I’m surprised they’ve been released so soon. I’ve read they are still waiting on the toxicology tests. That’s really going to shape where this case is headed. If she’s drug and booze free than it may have been some type of medical problem. That would fit more into an accident category than a crime. I’ve wondered if there’s any civil liability for the restaurant? If someone is acting so erratic that they’re sent home an hour into their shift. Should they have tried to dissuade her from driving? If she in no condition to flip burgers or prep the salad bar should she be trusted to drive? Call a cab or her bf for a ride? Last few years there’s been a emphasis on stopping DUI’s before the person gets behind the wheel. The “friends don’t let Friends drive drunk” PSA’s for example. Bartenders are supposed to keep an eye out for obviously inebriated customers heading out to their car. I don’t know what liability the restaurant has. Maybe none. \ Not my field. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if some very smart attorneys are already looking at case law. Could be a fat retainer in it for them down the road. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/66 "2015-10-27T04:56:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve wondered if there’s any civil liability for the restaurant? Your legal acumen is a source of constant wonder. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/67 "2015-10-27T05:03:53Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Your legal acumen is a source of constant wonder. You might consider sharing your legal expertise instead of mocking. I posed a hypothetical specifically hoping one of many lawyers on this board would clarify. You never learn anything in life if you’re afraid to ask the question. I asked the question. IANAL but we sure have several on this board. Some even have access to the Westlaw database and could do a case law search in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/68 "2015-10-27T06:29:08Z")
Let’s lay off picking on aceplace, folks. To answer someone’s complaint up thread, I actually DO follow certain news stories as they develop by checking in on Dope threads like this one. So aceplace is just being courteous by offering occasional updates. And, his offhand mention of the “death penalty” in the OP was obviously a way of expressing understandable outrage as the story first broke – it wasn’t offered as a legal argument (though the legal discussion which ensued was rather interesting, as long as it didn’t derail the thread entirely – which it did not.) Finally, he shouldn’t be mocked for asking questions like the one about the civil liability of the perp’s former place of employment. Better would be a clear explanation of how a legal system which allowed such a thing would be a bad idea indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/69 "2015-10-27T07:56:50Z")
Well indeed, and I was kinda interested in this bit: > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > [Here’s a page from The Daily Oklahoman’s website.](http://newsok.com/1-million-bond-set-for-suspect-in-fatal-osu-homecoming-parade-car-crash/article/5456124) It contains links to statements by her attorney and by her boyfriend, father and aunt. Lots of interesting information, including statements by Adacia Chambers’ attorney regarding past hospitalizations, medications and her comportment since her arrest. Her boyfriend outlined the nature of their lives together, various (and many) episodes of stress over the last couple of years, and a description of the last night and morning they spent together prior to the crash. I may be entirely wrong, but it was my impression that British courts — and other jurisdictions — had prolonged and excessive conniption fits over such details being publicly revealed pre-trial. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/70 "2015-10-27T08:57:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Nice link Starving Artist Thanks. I’ll read the documents later tonight. Actually they’re videos, and they contain statements being made by her lawyer, family and boyfriend to the news media. I apologize, I should have made that clear. And in looking back over my post I see another thing I should probably have made clear - the hospitalizations I mentioned were for unspecified mental issues. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/71 "2015-10-27T11:45:04Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > To move this discussion in a different direction I think we are beginning to see the more and more of cities moving parades off of city streets and into more controllable areas like large parking lots. Its so much less hassle for business owners, requires less security, and things can be kept under better control. > > Kansas City did it this year with the American Royal parade. It was moved to Kaufman stadium. Yes, there were fewer people attending but it seemed to be in much better control. How is it still a parade if it’s in a parking lot or stadium? Isn’t it more like a group of people just hanging out? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/72 "2015-10-27T16:19:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Actually they’re videos, and they contain statements being made by her lawyer, family and boyfriend to the news media. I apologize, I should have made that clear. And in looking back over my post I see another thing I should probably have made clear - the hospitalizations I mentioned were for unspecified mental issues. The video was very informative. She’s got a very good lawyer.I was impressed with his candor and impressions of his client. He did hold back on explaining why she left work. But I understand he has to protect her privacy and interests. I see now this will be a much more complicated case than originally thought. It’s not a straight forward DUI at all. Although drugs may be a factor. The toxicology reports will clear that up in a few more days. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/73 "2015-10-27T16:53:55Z")
[Suicide gone wrong?](http://kosu.org/post/oklahoma-state-parade-crash-leaves-suspects-family-confused-devastated#stream/0) > [@](#): > > “I believe the affidavit of probable cause states that during book-in that she was suicidal at the time of the accident but no longer at the time of book-in,” says Payne County District attorney Laura Austin Thomas. “Well, her suicidal acts became homicidal in nature as she barreled through this crowd of people.” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/74 "2015-10-27T17:49:11Z")
Well, if witness reports are correct she seems to have deliberately barreled into the crowd on purpose. She also appears to have said during the booking process that she was suicidal at the time of the crash but no longer was at the time of booking. And it really looks like she drove into the crowd intentionally, although I suppose she could have been driving while out of it. I once drove over a hundred miles on an interstate while asleep at the wheel. I woke up as I ran over speed bumps while approaching a toll booth, feeling amazingly refreshed and with no recollection of anything after driving past a small town over a hundred miles back. Scared the crap out of me, it did. But it also showed me people are capable of maneuvering an automobile for some time while also functionally unconscious. So based on that and the fact she only had an hour or two of sleep the night before I’m thinking she could have been asleep at the wheel but still able to maneuver her car around obstacles and into the crowd without knowing what she was doing. Or maybe she was conscious and drove into the crowd deliberately thinking the police would shoot and kill her, who knows? At any rate here’s an excerpt from an [article posted today on the _The Daily Oklahoman’s_ website](http://newsok.com/driver-says-she-was-suicidal-during-oklahoma-state-university-crash-police-say/article/5456124). > [@](#): > > Saturday morning, witnesses reportedly saw Chambers drive a 2014 Hyundai Elantra through the intersection at N Boomer and W McElroy roads on a red light, according to the court affidavit. The vehicle then proceeded south on N Main Street, where Chambers reportedly tried to drive around a traffic barricade that was positioned to stop southbound traffic at the intersection of Connell Avenue and Main Street but struck the barricade and pushed it to the side. > > Witnesses tried to flag down the vehicle to try to get it to stop before it reached the intersection of Hall of Fame Avenue and N Main Street, according to the court affidavit. > > The car kept going south where it struck a Stillwater police motorcycle that had been parked at an angle in the southbound lanes of N Main to block traffic. The impact forced the unoccupied motorcycle into the crowd. The car continued southbound toward a crowd of people gathered along the north edge of the intersection near the crosswalk. The car drove into the crowd, struck several people, then veered southwest where it struck more people along the west edge of the intersection before coming to rest on the southwest corner of the intersection. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/75 "2015-10-27T18:49:12Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > 10:30 in the morning and she’s already drunk. That tell you anything? Obviously I’m not excusing DUI, but I’m assuming quite a few of the attendees were already drunk. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/76 "2015-10-27T23:41:05Z")
Thanks for your latest post on the Daily Oklahoman article, **Starving Artist**. It reinforced something I’ve suspected since I saw the photo of her being led away from her car as well as her booking photo. It was that this woman wasn’t drunk. I was kind of hoping that she was. The alternative is that this was a deliberate act. To me, this level of callousness is horrific to contemplate. I don’t want to get into a question of sanity - that will be the focus from now on. I see her attorney is going this route (and her history certainly shows it). His job now is to keep his client alive - I don’t think anyone doubts she is going to be in prison for a good long time. I am a naturally curious person, but there are some things in life that I just do not want to understand. For me, “evil” is the blanket term which covers them. This is one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/77 "2015-10-28T00:26:07Z")
I’m thinking that she may have been in sort of zombie state where she was functioning in more or less a catatonic frame of mind. Her co-workers said she seemed to be on drugs that morning and her attorney has said that she’s been dull and and emotionless ever since he first met with her last Saturday. I’m thinking this may explain her driving. She went through a red light and seemed oblivious to people waving at her to stop, then apparently tried to go around a barricade but grazed it instead and spun it around, then she grazed a police motorcycle and knocked it into the crowd, then hit the crowd and veered off and hit others in the crowd. I would think that if she were in full position of her faculties she could have driven around the barricade and the motorcycle without difficulty, especially if her intention was to hit the crowd. I think this would explain her veering into more people after hitting the first group. It may have gotten to her through the fog that she was driving her car into a crowd of people so she reflexively veered away without looking where she was going with the result that she drove her car into even more people. All in all, I’m thinking she had some sort of mental breakdown after she left home that morning, pretty much unplugging from a conscious connection with the world, and she’s been in more or less the same state ever since. Her lifeless demeanor with her lawyer and in the face of being told of all the people she killed and wounded is in direct conflict with the sweet, timid, caring and giving person that everyone who’s ever known her describes. As I said before it’s impossible to know what was going through her mind or what her intent was, but I just shake the feeling that she suffered some sort of catastrophic breakdown and really didn’t know what she was doing. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/78 "2015-10-29T03:47:51Z")
I saw the video with the witness that talked to her right after the crash. He’s the source for “she said she wanted to kill herself” quote. [It’s on this page](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/driver-osu-crash-wanted-kill-witness-article-1.2414595) if you haven’t seen it. Makes me just sick to my stomach. Especially since this lady had been treated and she still falls through the cracks. To just drive into a large crowd like that is too horrible to even think about. It’s quite remarkable that more didn’t die. [http://kfor.com/2015/10/26/theres-really-nothing-else-they-could-do-for-her-adacia-chambers-father-tried-to-get-help/](http://kfor.com/2015/10/26/theres-really-nothing-else-they-could-do-for-her-adacia-chambers-father-tried-to-get-help/) > [@](#): > > In fact, Adacia’s father admits he tried to help her deal with mental illness in the past. > > “Just recently, she had a mental hospital she went to in Wagoner at one time. They had her for a couple of weeks and they released her, and there’s really nothing else they could do for her,” Floyd Chambers said. “So I took her to another place when she got out of there, and basically the same thing. She was feeling fine and, you know, at the point she was 21, so I’d done all I could do as a father. I didn’t know where else to turn and what to do.” > > It’s a hopeless answer that experts say is the cause of so many untreated people in Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/79 "2015-10-29T15:24:37Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#): > > Thanks for your latest post on the Daily Oklahoman article, **Starving Artist**. It reinforced something I’ve suspected since I saw the photo of her being led away from her car as well as her booking photo. It was that this woman wasn’t drunk. > > I was kind of hoping that she was. The alternative is that this was a deliberate act. Mental illness is another alternative, as is some other health issue impairing her faculties. Drunk or deliberate homicide aren’t the only options. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655/80 "2015-10-29T21:28:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > So you hope this wasn’t a deliberate act, but think she should get the death penalty. > > What penalty would you suggest for someone who with premeditation, intentionally kills another person? Unless there are further deaths, this matter would call for an execution, then a resurrection, then an execution, then a resurrection, then an execution, then a resurrection, then an execution. If the driver lacked capacity, then an additional resurrection would be added on at the end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dui-motorist-plows-car-into-crowd-during-oklahoma-state-university-homecoming-parade/735655.md?page=5)