'Nobody knew what was going on' 
 
 Sunday, October 25, 2015 | By Matt Dinger Staff writer mdinger@oklahoman.com 
 
 Sunday, October 25, 2015 | By Matt Dinger Staff writer mdinger@oklahoman.com 
 
 Two hours after kissing her boyfriend goodbye and leaving for work Saturday morning, a 25-year-old Stillwater woman found herself in handcuffs, accused of mowing down a crowd at the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade, injuring dozens and killing four. 
 
 Adacia Avery Chambers is being held on four complaints of second-degree murder and driving under the influence of drugs. 
 
 Alcohol is not believed to be involved in the crash, Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas said Sunday. 
 
 Chambers has not been charged. She is expected to face a judge Monday afternoon. 
 
 “I don't believe right now that she was intoxicated,” said Chambers' attorney, Tony Coleman. 
 
 “I have deep concerns about her competency at this point. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I can tell you she's suffering from mental illness,” Coleman said. 
 
 An expert in alcohol intoxication, Coleman believes that his client suffered a blackout caused by underlying physical or mental problems. 
 
 Her boyfriend, Jesse Gaylord, told him that she suffers from diabetes, but is not being treated or medicated for the condition, Coleman said. She also reportedly suffers from insomnia and had not slept for three days before the crash. 
 
 Gaylord also reportedly interrupted two attempts by Chambers to slash her wrists, Coleman said, but doesn't think the incident was intentional or a suicide attempt. 
 
 Chambers' mother also reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder and has been hospitalized in the past due to her illness, Coleman said. 
 
 Coleman said he's met with people who saw Chambers the night before, the morning of and just before the incident. No one saw her drink alcohol or take drugs, he said. 
 
 Gaylord told CBS News that Chambers left work at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburger about a half-mile from the scene early, but he isn't sure why. 
 
 "She's a really nice girl. Hasn't shown anything, I mean... I got her up this morning and gave her a hug and kiss and she made it to work," Gaylord said. 
 
 Chambers reportedly left the restaurant a short time after arriving for work. A witness said she appeared to be crying, but was not unsteady on her feet as she walked down a street away from the restaurant, according to the Stillwater NewsPress. 
 
 What happened over the course of the next hour leading up to the crash is unknown even to Chambers, Coleman said. 
 
 "There's an area there when she doesn't remember much of anything," he said. 
 
 She did not remember the events leading up to the crash or the wreck itself, but recalls people pulling her out of the vehicle's wreckage, Coleman said. 
 
 When he met with his client Saturday night, Coleman said Chambers gave "inappropriate" answers to some questions and lacked emotion at moments it would be expected. 
 
 "People who know her talk of a different Adacia than the one I met," Coleman said. 
 
 What happened 
 
 At 10:31 a.m., a 2014 Hyundai Elantra traveling southbound on North Main Street at a high rate of speed crashed into an unmanned police motorcycle and continued into a crowd near the end of the parade route at North Main and Hall of Fame Avenue, just a few blocks east of the university's football stadium. 
 
 The aftermath left four dead and about four dozen hurt, several critically. 
 
 Dead are retired OSU professor Marvin Lyle Stone, 65; Stone's wife, Bonnie Lynn Stone, also 65 and a longtime OSU employee; Nikita Nakal, 23, a University of Central Oklahoma graduate student from Mumbai, India; and 2-year-old Nash Lucas, the son of an OSU sophomore chemistry major who also works for the university's Parking and Transit Services. 
 
 Several dozen others were treated at hospitals across the state. Several were admitted, including five who were critically injured. 
 
 During a news conference Sunday afternoon at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OSU alumnus Mark McNitt, of Houston, described seeing his stepfather, Leo Schmitz, injured during the crash. McNitt said he felt a gush of wind, then heard a boom, followed by screams. 
 
 “Leo, who was standing next to me, wasn't standing next to me,” McNitt said. 
 
 McNitt, 49, suffered a relatively minor injury to his calf, he said. But Schmitz's injuries were more severe. He was taken by helicopter to OU Medical Center, where he remained in critical condition Sunday evening. 
 
 McNitt said he spoke publicly about the crash because he wanted to give victims like his stepfather a face. McNitt described him as a “good guy, everybody loves him. He would do anything for you. He loves horses and works hard. He's a family guy, loves to have a good time. Any opportunity to see a Cowboy football game, he's there.” 
 
 Never could McNitt have imagined what happened instead. 
 
 “The only thing I can relate it to is maybe some type of bombing. Nobody knew what was going on. All we were really concerned with was our family and friends and everybody that was injured.” 
 
 Still wearing the OSU Cowboys shirt and Pistol Pete baseball cap he'd worn to the parade the previous day, McNitt said the family had barely managed to snatch a couple of hours of sleep since the crash, he said. Hospital staff did a good job of keeping the family abreast of Schmitz's situation, he said. 
 
 “It's been a crazy 24 hours,” McNitt said, beginning to tear up. "Everybody kept a cool head. I think Leo and the rest of the families and children are in the best hands that they can be.” 
 
 Odd twist 
 
 Also injured was the parent of an Oologah High School band member, who came to watch the band march in the parade, said Oologah Superintendent Max Tanner. 
 
 The band had completed the route before the crash occurred, Tanner said, and had gathered in Strickland Park, which is adjacent to the crash site at the corner of Hall of Fame Avenue and N Main Street. Band members didn't see the crash, he said, but a band member's mother was injured in the crash, Tanner said. 
 
 In an odd twist, Chambers, the driver, is a graduate of Oologah High School. Tanner said Chambers was a member of the band for four years. 
 
 Counselors will be available Monday morning for students or adults who need to talk, Tanner said. Oologah residents have handled tragedies in the past, he said. Among them was an F4 tornado that devastated the community in 1991. Those experiences have taught the town how to cope with challenges like this one, he said. 
 
 "They come together," he said. "Through prayer, family and friends, they get through everything.” 
 
 Without bail 
 
 An employee at the Freddy's, where Chambers worked, hung up the phone when contacted by a reporter Sunday. Attempts to reach the restaurant's owner were unsuccessful. 
 
 "Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Cowboy community and everyone affected by the event that occurred Saturday morning. We are deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy and our Stillwater franchise restaurant is cooperating fully with law enforcement officials," Freddy's corporate spokeswoman, Alexanda Pearce, wrote in a prepared statement. 
 
 Police initially arrested Chambers on the DUI complaint, but Thomas, the district attorney, asked them to add four manslaughter complaints. On Sunday morning, investigators filed an affidavit to change those complaints to second-degree murder, according to a police press release issued Sunday evening. 
 
 Chambers remains in Payne County jail without bail. 
 
 Contributing: Staff writers Darla Slipke, Silas Allen, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Juliana Keeping and Phillip O'Connor ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
 
 OKLAHOMA CITY-- The attorney representing the woman arrested in the deadly OSU homecoming parade crash says she was not intoxicated and suffers from mental illness. 
 
 Adacia Chambers, 25, is charged in connection with plowing her car into a crowd of people watching the end of the OSU homecoming parade Saturday morning. Dozens were injured and 4 died as a result of the crash. 
 
 Tony Coleman spoke Sunday and says he spent a little over an hour with Chambers Saturday night. 
 
 He says she was arrested under the suspicion of Driving Under the Influence and thinks that was the appropriate move on the part of law enforcement. Coleman says he is trained in DUI and DWI detection and says his client did not suffer from any of the normal signs of having been drunk or under the influence of drugs. Investigators are still waiting for the toxicology results. 
 
 After spending time with her, Coleman says, "I was not satisfied that I was communicating with a competent person. Miss Chambers suffers from mental illness, as to what type has yet to be determined." 
 
 He admits he is not a psychiatrist or psychologist, but he has experience and understands the warning signs of mental illness. 
 
 Coleman says the first thing he will ask for is a psychiatric evaluation and a competency hearing. 
 
 Coleman says the night before the crash she was taking part in the OSU homecoming tradition known as 'Walk Around' where people walk through neighborhoods admiring decorations. She was with her grandmother and aunt. They say she did not have any alcohol or take any other kind of substance. 
 
 She worked at a fast-food restaurant and left for work early so she could arrive for her 9:00 A.M. shift on time Saturday morning. He says she did but within about an hour something happened and he is unclear on the events as is his client. He says she cannot remember much of what happened after that until the end of the crash. She does remember being removed from the car and cooperating with police. 
 
 Coleman says she and her boyfriend have a good relationship and he says she could be diabetic but is not being treated for it. 
 
 He says the Chambers family is devastated. He says their thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragedy. ||||| (CNN) The woman accused of driving under the influence and plowing her car into a crowd of spectators at an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade also faces murder charges, police said Sunday. 
 
 Adacia Chambers is being held in jail on four counts of second-degree murder for Saturday's deadly crash, which killed four people and injured dozens more. If convicted, she could face life in prison, police said. 
 
 Chambers, 25, is set to appear in court on Monday, the Stillwater Police Department said in a statement. 
 
 The Saturday crash at the Oklahoma State University parade killed a toddler, a graduate student and a couple who'd worked at the school for decades, officials said. 
 
 It also injured dozens of people, including 11 victims younger than 13. 
 
 Injured victims' families await word 
 
 A day later, family members of the injured waited for word as their loved ones underwent surgeries and medical tests. 
 
 "It's been a crazy 24 hours," Mark McNitt said, tearing up as he told reporters about the crash and its aftermath. One minute, McNitt was standing beside his stepfather, 54-year-old Leo Schmitz, near the end of the parade route. The next minute, he said, things were so chaotic it seemed like a bomb had gone off. 
 
 "All I remember is a gush of wind, and then the sound. Leo, who was standing next to me, wasn't standing next to me. He was off to the side," McNitt said. 
 
 Now his stepfather is one of four patients who remain in critical condition, while family members keep vigil. McNitt described his injuries as severe, but he praised doctors for their care and people from across the state for coming together during the tragedy. 
 
 "We missed the game," he said, "but we feel the love, and we'll get through this." 
 
 A family mourns 
 
 Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis called the crash an "incomprehensible tragedy." In a statement, the school said three of the victims were "members of the OSU family." 
 
 Marvin Stone, 65, was a retired professor and researcher in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. His 65-year-old wife, Bonnie, had worked for the university for more than 30 years as "an unselfish and dedicated employee" in Institutional Research and Information Management, the school said. 
 
 Another employee at the school, Nicollete Strauch, survived the crash, but her 2-year-old son Nash was killed, the university said. Strauch, who is a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering and works in parking and transit, is recovering from injuries and devastated by her son's death, officials said. 
 
 In a statement, the president of the University of Central Oklahoma said one of the people killed was Nikita Nakal, an MBA student from Mumbai, India. Police named a victim as 23-year-old Nakita Prabhakar. 
 
 "While our thoughts and prayers are with the Oklahoma State University community tonight following the tragic events during OSU's homecoming parade this morning, it is with deep sadness that I ask you to extend those sentiments to the family and friends of one of our own students," wrote President Don Betz. "Our students come to Central with their unique goals, hopes and dreams, and Nikita was undoubtedly no different." 
 
 She had been attending Saturday's parade with friends, Hargis said. 
 
 Of the 47 people treated after the crash, 17 remained hospitalized and four were in critical condition Sunday, officials said. Eleven of those treated for injuries were 13 and younger, including a 1-year-old, a 3-year-old and four 6-year-olds, Stillwater police said. 
 
 'I flew over some strollers' 
 
 Chambers allegedly drove her 2014 Hyundai Elantra into an unmanned police motorcycle before careening into the crowd of spectators. 
 
 The deadly crash occurred at 10:31 a.m., just hours before the school's centerpiece homecoming event -- a football game between the nationally ranked, undefeated OSU Cowboys and the University of Kansas -- and only two blocks from the soon-to-be jampacked, 50,000-capacity Boone Pickens Stadium. 
 
 The festive homecoming scene quickly turned into one of horror. 
 
 "I can't describe it any more clearly than this: people flying in the air," OSU graduate student Paul Sims said of the moment of impact. 
 
 Student Kailey Carter told CNN affiliate KJRH she saw something black coming toward her. 
 
 "I didn't know what it was at first, so I just got up and ran," Carter said. "The car hit me as it was stopping, and then I flew over some strollers." 
 
 Another witness, Geoff Haxton, said he was about 100 yards from the crash site. 
 
 "All there was was smoke and panic. Half the emergency personnel in the county were here," Haxton said. "People were running. (My) first instinct was to get my kids away from the street." 
 
 Madison Atwell, 7, had six broken ribs, a concussion and stitches after the crash, her family said in a statement released through a hospital spokesman. 
 
 Her aunt, Julie Franklin, was not at the parade but said the young girl had a guardian angel, with a woman at the scene pushing her out of the way as the car drove into the crowd. 
 
 That guardian angel was one of the people who was killed in the crash, Franklin told KJRH. 
 
 Madison's mother, Tasha, said on Facebook that her daughter had gone to the parade with her grandmother and aunt "to experience homecoming cowboy style." 
 
 Instead of seeing her first OSU football game, Madison had her first helicopter ride, to the hospital, her mother said. 
 
 Game goes on 
 
 After careful deliberation, officials decided to let the football game proceed, Hargis said. 
 
 Oklahoma State University is saddened by the tragic parade incident earlier this morning. Our thoughts & prayers are with those affected. — Oklahoma State Univ. (@okstate) October 24, 2015 
 
 Before the game, the OSU football team knelt in solemn prayer at the 25-yard line. 
 
 Fox Sports sportscaster Tim Brando described the pregame atmosphere as "the kind of somber feeling" that he'd never had before.
– The woman accused of driving into an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade is clearly mentally ill and has no memory of the crash that killed four people and injured dozens more, her lawyer says. "I have deep concerns about her competency at this point," attorney Tony Coleman tells the Oklahoman. "I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I can tell you she's suffering from mental illness." Coleman says he believes 25-year-old Adacia Chambers suffered some kind of blackout because of her illness and has no memory of the crash or of the hour leading up to it, during which she left her job at a fast-food restaurant soon after arriving. Three adults and a 2-year-old boy were killed in the crash, and four of the 47 people injured are in critical condition, CNN reports. Chambers has been charged with four counts of second-degree murder. She also faces a DUI charge, but Coleman says nobody saw her drink or take drugs before the incident and she showed no sign of having been under the influence when he first saw her on Saturday, though he says he wasn't satisfied he was dealing with "a competent person," KFOR reports. The lawyer says he has spoken to her boyfriend, who told him she has diabetes but isn't being treated for it, and that she also suffers from insomnia and didn't sleep for three days before the crash, per the Oklahoman. Coleman says the boyfriend has told him Chambers has attempted suicide before, but he doesn't believe she was trying to kill herself when she allegedly plowed into the OSU crowd.