Two-year-old amongst four killed after car drives into spectators

A woman suspected of drunken driving crashed into a crowd of spectators at Oklahoma State University on Saturday, killing four people – including a 2-year-old - and injuring more than 40 others, authorities said.

Three adults were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fourth victim, the young boy, succumbed to his injuries at hospital, according to a police statement,

Witnesses told of bodies being flung dozens of feet into the air as the gray Hyundai Elantra drove into the throng at the intersection of Main Street and Hall of Fame Avenue in Stillwater, some 130 km northeast of Oklahoma City, at the end of the parade.

Stillwater Mayor Gina Noble and local police said the car crashed through barricades and struck an unmanned police motorcycle before carving through the mass of spectators.

“People were flying 30 feet (9 meters) into the air like rag dolls,” a witness said.

44 people were injured in the incident. Almost half of the injured were aged between 2 and 65, and were released shortly after.

The driver, identified as 25-year-old Adacia Avery Chambers, was taken into custody on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

The suspect does not appear to have been a student at Oklahoma State University, Gibbs said. Mayor Noble said in a statement that Chambers was a resident of the city.

Megan Lantz of Ponca City, Oklahoma, told the Oklahoman newspaper that about 100 people were standing on the corner at the time the car, going between 72 and 80 km/h, struck the crowd.

“We were facing the parade and heard tires squealing and then started to hear the car hitting things and people and there was screaming and people running away,” Lantz, 32, told the paper for a story on its website.

The suspect's father, Floyd Chambers, 47, told the Oklahoman in a phone interview that he learned about the accident through social media and was stunned.