Tulsa World: Turnpike crash victims identified

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Turnpike crash victims identified

A tow truck lifts a truck off a car involved in a seven-vehicle crash that killed nine. The crash was on Will Rogers Turnpike eastbound of mile marker 321. Gary Crow/For the Tulsa World

By SHANNON MUCHMORE World Staff Writer
Published: 6/27/2009 8:24 AM
Last Modified: 6/27/2009 3:32 PM

Related Story: 9 people killed on turnpike

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has identified the victims of what may be the deadliest single crash in state history.

About 1 p.m. Friday, a tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars stopped by an earlier accident on Will Rogers Turnpike Northeast of Miami.

Nine people, ranging in age from 7 to 69, died at the the scene. Four others were injured and taken to hospitals in Joplin, Mo. Another seven people involved in the wreck were not injured.

Emergency personnel Friday were calling the accident the worst they had ever seen.

Dead are:

- Ethan Hayes, 7 of Frisco, Texas

- Randall Hayes, 38 of Frisco, Texas

- Antonio Hooks, 42 of Oklahoma City

- Dione Hooks, 41 of Oklahoma City

- Earlene Hooks, 63 of Oklahoma City

- Oral Hooks, 69 of Oklahoma City

- Cynthia Olson, 55 of Crossroads, Texas

- Ernestina Reyes, unknown age of Phoenix, Ariz.

- Ricardo Reyes, 39 of Phoenix, Ariz.

The OHP report lists the cause of the accident as unsafe speed for traffic conditions. A semi truck driven by Donald Creed, 76, of Willard, Mo., didn't stop as it came to an area of the turnpike where traffic was at a stand still.

The truck knocked one car into a ditch and then continued to hit another car, causing a chain reaction that involved four other vehicles. The semi ended up on top of three of them, according to the report.

One of the vehicles involved in the wreck was hauling a 16-foot stock trailer with about 10 sheep. That driver was not injured.

The turnpike's eastbound lanes were shut down for more than six hours. One lane reopened just before 8 p.m. Friday. The OHP does not know when the other lane reopened, but it was before 5 Saturday morning.

The OHP report does not indicate the driver was affected by drugs or alcohol. He was admitted to a hospital in good condition.

A 12-year-old passenger in one of the cars was pinned for about 30 minutes and eventually taken to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas. She was admitted in critical condition.

A survivor from Frisco, Texas, 35, was pinned for about two hours before being admitted to a hospital in critical condition. A 52-year-old driver from Waynesville, Mo., was admitted in good condition after being pinned in her vehicle for about three hours.

Another passenger, Marcella Smith, 62 of Tulsa, was taken to Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo., and admitted in good condition.

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By SHANNON MUCHMORE World Staff Writer

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Big rig's driver is blamed for crash," which was published on 6/28/2009. So far, 132 comments have been made.