GUILTY OK - Multiple children hit by car, 1 dead, Cleveland Co, Moore HS, 3 FEB 2020

[beatrixpotter]

Woah, his son was killed in a hit and run and he just happened to get super drunk and hit multiple cars and people a few days later?! I'm not buying it was an accident on his part. It seems too incredibly coincidental.

So sorry for your towns tragedy, I'mstillagrandma. We recently had someone who was intoxicated drive off the road and hit children on the sidewalk waiting to get on the school bus. The bus was right there. He swerved around the bus and hit the kids on the sidewalk and their stepfather. Thankfully they survived. But not without a lot of physical and I'm sure psychological trauma. I'm so sick of selfish people driving drunk or using drugs.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Woah, his son was killed in a hit and run and he just happened to get super drunk and hit multiple cars and people a few days later?! I'm not buying it was an accident on his part. It seems too incredibly coincidental.

So sorry for your towns tragedy, I'mstillagrandma. We recently had someone who was intoxicated drive off the road and hit children on the sidewalk waiting to get on the school bus. The bus was right there. He swerved around the bus and hit the kids on the sidewalk and their stepfather. Thankfully they survived. But not without a lot of physical and I'm sure psychological trauma. I'm so sick of selfish people driving drunk or using drugs.

My opinion and everyone else’s in town...
Intentional homicide. Alcohol and grief are no excuses. My family has experienced so much grief. That guy has no idea and we didn’t intentionally take it out on anyone else. This infuriates me. This is bad. Really bad. I hadn’t watched the video @JDough posted. Thank you JD. It was so sad to watch him speak. Bringing up the tornado and the Murrah bomb tragedies brought up so many flashbacks. I was with first responders in both. I was among the first on both scenes. Horrific memories. Indescribable!

 

[Spellbound]

Thank you so much Spellz. You are my #1 rock of loyal support. I appreciate your deep friendship.

Always by your side, Sister

 

[Spellbound]

Max Leroy Townsend: Suspect ID’d In Fatal Hit & Run at Moore HS | Heavy.com

Townsend has a pretty lengthy rap sheet dating back to 1991. He’s previously been charged with child abuse multiple times, possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance. Police said Townsend’s 29-year-old son, Cody Townsend, was killed Sunday near Buck Thomas Park after he rear-ended another vehicle, as reported by The Oklahoman.

According to Joleen Chaney of KFOR, two girls are being treated for broken bones. A third is being treated with a serious head injury. There hasn’t been an update on the fourth victim.

Rap sheet from April 2008 is on this twitter page for a KFOR reporter Peyton Yager on Twitter or above Heavy.com link

 

[JDough]

I live off 4th.
View attachment 229759
Moore High School map

eta: My daughter talked to witnesses and they said his wife was in the car with him. Grief and alcohol. Bad mix! Witnesses said he hit some kids, then hit a house, then went back to hit more kids.

What???!!! WTH is wrong with people?

How horrifying for his wife. Helpless doesn't even begin to describe how I would feel. I cannot imagine being in the vehicle with someone that ran over a group of students (or anyone for that matter), hit a house, then went back to hit more of them. He had plenty of opportunity to stop his vehicle, but chose to continue on with his murderous behavior. As a parent, this knowledge would make the situation even more painful than it already is.

I am so sorry, @imstilla.grandma, for you and your community. You have all experienced more than your fair share of grief. I will be praying that each of you experience healing of your minds and hearts.

 

[Spellbound]

A second student has died:

A second student has died in the aftermath of Monday’s vehicle crash in which a pickup truck struck several runners near an Oklahoma high school, police said.

Yuridia Martinez, a sophomore, died from her injuries Tuesday less than 24 hours after the pickup truck, driven by Max Leroy Townsend, 57, hit a group of six cross country runners around 3:30 p.m., killing one at the scene and sending the others to the hospital.

Rachel Freeman, 17, died Monday.

Officials said other students struck by the pickup were Shiloh Hutchinson, a junior who underwent surgery for a broken arm and a broken leg; Joseph White, a senior who is no longer in critical condition, but remains hospitalized; Kolby Crum, a senior who remains in critical condition; and Ashton Baza, sophomore who was released after being treated for a broken leg and a broken ankle.

Moore High School: Oklahoma cross-country runners hit by truck; 2 dead

 

[Catmommy]

The ripples from this tragedy will go on forever, I'm afraid; so many people affected in such horrible ways.

 

[scapa]

This is just awful. How does destroying the lives of others ease the burden of one's own grief?

 

[airportwoman]

If it was an drunk driving accident, it would be bad enough, but on purpose?

I bet this guy's done a lot more than what he's been arrested for.

 

[modesty blaise]

Was this intentional?
Am i crazy or does it seem like his deceased relative was engaged in the same behavior when he died? What a tragedy.

 

[JDough]

For most of his life, the suspect in the Moore High School tragedy has had trouble with drugs, alcohol and the law.

Max Leroy Townsend, 57, has been arrested more than a dozen times over the last 40 years.

Moore suspect had multiple DUI arrests

 

[Catmommy]

For most of his life, the suspect in the Moore High School tragedy has had trouble with drugs, alcohol and the law.

Max Leroy Townsend, 57, has been arrested more than a dozen times over the last 40 years.

Moore suspect had multiple DUI arrests

A tragedy just waiting to happen. And now it has.

 

[JDough]

A tragedy just waiting to happen. And now it has.

ITA-
Selfish, senseless, and preventable.
It angers me to know that our court system doesn't issue more nationwide permanent driver's license suspensions for habitual offenders. And stiffer sentencing guidelines if these perpetrators are caught behind the wheel. How many lives must be lost before there is a change?

 

[Cryptic]

Was this intentional?

Awful, but I suspect that it was.

The victims were running on the side walk, not on the shoulder. Though the victims could have been relatively clustered as the run had just started, I doubt they were running in a tight military formation. Yet, he struck six people.

The perpetrator was apprehended very quickly. In the footage I saw, he may of been intoxicated, but was clearly not staggering drunk, nor was he in a drug / alcohol stupor.

Given his long experience with drugs and alcohol, I imagine that his "dose" that morning, though would floor my totally non drinking female Baptist friend, was only moderately inebriating for him given his tolerances. Then factor in a long history of violence, of which I suspect most of it was impulsive.

In short, I could see his apparent level of intoxication leading to say: Striking a runner crossing street in cross walk. Or, failing to stop- then struck car casing fatalities. I can't see his apparent level of intoxication causing that "accident" though.

 

[Laughing]

Raise a hand if you've ever found yourself 'accidentally' driving on the sidewalk.

Anyone? Anyone?

JMHO YMMV

 

[Blissfully_B]

This is right down the road from me. This is my high school, the original. Our poor little town has experienced so much loss and tragedy. I could hear all the ambulances and fire trucks. I viewed all the chopper video in real life. I’m upset. It showed their belongings scattered across the roads and grass with the police walking around.some things covered up. It was so eerie. Looking down I almost felt like I was there with them. This is gonna tear our city up.

My heart goes out to you and your community! I have been following this since the beginning. I am part of a group on FB that started out as a prayer warrior page for a sweet little girl from my hometown and has now turned into a prayer warrior page for all of the members and their needs. This was shared on there and I just want to let you know that your community has a huge group in their thoughts

 

[Spellbound]

a third student has died . Kolby Crum had told the students attending to victims to ‘‘take care of the others first”

3rd high school runner struck by truck dies; driver’s son killed in crash day before hit-and-run
MOORE, Okla. — “He finished his race in heaven this morning.”

With those words, the family of 18-year-old Kolby Crum, a senior at Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, announced that he died Saturday morning, 12 days after an allegedly drunken driver -- who was mourning the loss of his own son -- smashed his truck into Crum and six other track and cross-country team members out for a run.

Townsend was going 79 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone when he crossed two lanes of traffic, struck a parked vehicle and veered onto a sidewalk, where he struck the group of teens.

One student was thrown 169 feet after being hit,


Max Townsend is being held in a Cleveland County jail on two counts of first-degree manslaughter, four counts of personal injury accident while driving under the influence and seven counts leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, according to jail records. Each of the charges is a felony.

bail set at $1.2 million.
. . .

 

[Spellbound]

three deaths

Multiple charges

Oklahoma man facing additional charges following third cross country runner’s death

 

[JDough]

a third student has died . Kolby Crum had told the students attending to victims to ‘‘take care of the others first”

3rd high school runner struck by truck dies; driver’s son killed in crash day before hit-and-run
MOORE, Okla. — “He finished his race in heaven this morning.”

With those words, the family of 18-year-old Kolby Crum, a senior at Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma, announced that he died Saturday morning, 12 days after an allegedly drunken driver -- who was mourning the loss of his own son -- smashed his truck into Crum and six other track and cross-country team members out for a run.

Townsend was going 79 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone when he crossed two lanes of traffic, struck a parked vehicle and veered onto a sidewalk, where he struck the group of teens.

One student was thrown 169 feet after being hit,


Max Townsend is being held in a Cleveland County jail on two counts of first-degree manslaughter, four counts of personal injury accident while driving under the influence and seven counts leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, according to jail records. Each of the charges is a felony.

bail set at $1.2 million.
. . .

"Take care of the others first."
What a fine young man he was.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Charges were upgraded to 3 counts of murder and Townsend was ordered to stand trial. I cannot find any news past July of 2020. I have not checked court records yet, only media sources. Nothing sine July of last year.