Email This Story

Crash foils float's parade

Nov. 6, 2007

David Poe/Lariat Staff The Kappa Alpha Theta float was unable to be in the homecoming parade after two Saturday morning collisions. No one has been arrested in connection to the hit-and-run collision, according to a Baylor Police Department spokesperson and no charges have been filed regarding the second collision.

By Shannon Daily
Reporter

After countless hours spent working on their float, the members of Kappa Alpha Theta and the men helping them were unable to see their float go through the parade due to two car accidents, only minutes after the other.

The accidents occurred when the float was being moved by three of the men down Orchard Lane from the float site to the parade route at around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Caddo Mills senior Tyler McKamy then noticed a car coming down the road toward them. At his warning, Jasper senior Taylor Mathews pulled the float over to the side of the road to avoid the car.

The car then swerved and hit the float. Mathews said the driver continued to drive, leaving his driver's side door lodged into the side of the float.

"They wiped out probably at least 25 feet of the side of the float," Axtell junior Lauren Swaner said. "There was no way it could go through the parade. Half of it was gone."

The driver of the car following the float and acting as its brake lights checked to see that no one was hurt. He then followed the man who hit the float, Mathews said.

The hit-and-run driver continued down the road for about a mile before stopping, getting out of his car and running.

Mathews said the police didn't catch the man that night but later sent officers to his home.

A Waco Police Department spokesperson said no one was arrested in connection with the accident.

The Theta float chairs arrived three or four minutes after the first accident, said Swaner, one of the sorority's float chairs.

Mathews, who was still with the float, then crawled underneath the bus to check on the generator when another car rapidly began to approach them.

McKamy tried unsuccessfully to flag down the car. When he saw it wasn't stopping, Swaner said McKamy yelled, "Taylor, watch out!"

Mathews said the car then hit the back of the float, pushing him and the bus back about 20 feet.

Mathews was only slightly scratched up, but a Waco Police Department spokesperson confirmed the driver of the car was sent to the hospital.

Mathews said he thought the driver had slight injuries. He said he estimated there was approximately $2,000 worth of damage to the float.

He also said he is unsure as to whether anyone will press charges.

Within the two weeks leading up to the parade, the float chairs spent an average of eight hours a day on the float.

"I got one night of sleep last week," Swaner said.

The members of the sorority were also required to work two hours a week.

"It was awful because we just worked so hard. We just wanted it to be in the parade," said Duncanville junior Alyssa Mullins, another Theta float chair.

Swaner said everyone was sad they could not participate in the parade, but at that point, they were all just happy everyone was safe.

"Both of the drivers are very lucky" they weren't hurt worse, she said.

More News ...