Father of Six-Year-Old Killed at Kansas Soccer Field Remembers Son as Boy Who Loved Life

The father of a six-year-old boy killed when a truck drove across a soccer field in Wichita, Kansas, paid a tearful tribute to his son at the child's funeral on Monday, 26 October.

Chris Adrian, of McPherson, Kansas, described his son Cole as an energetic, fun-loving boy who "captured the heart" of everyone he met. The eulogy was livestreamed from McPherson Free Methodist church, where the family said goodbye to Cole.

"Cole often told us this was the 'best day ever', even on days when nothing really special happened," Adrian said. He added that his son found joy in the simplest things and could make ordinary days feel extraordinary. "The world would be a much brighter place if we all had a little bit more of Cole's heart," he said.

Cole was one of two people killed at the Stryker Sports Complex on 17 October. The other victim was Nicholas Schafer, 35, a soccer coach and middle school teacher, also from McPherson, which lies about an hour north of Wichita. A pickup truck driven by a 34-year-old woman reportedly sped out of a parking lot and across the pitch while a game was under way. Ten other people were hurt, including girls aged five and nine, two boys aged eight and a five-year-old boy.

The suspected driver, who is from Garden City, Kansas, was arrested at the scene. Police said she reportedly had two of her own children in the vehicle. She was released a day later without charges, pending further investigation that includes toxicology results and an examination of her truck. The case remains under police investigation.

At the service, Adrian, holding the hand of his wife, Natalie, Cole's mother, spoke of the comfort the family drew from Wichita's youth soccer community. Players there wore tribute shirts marked with the letters "LLCA" at a game days after Cole's death. The family first wondered what the letters meant, Adrian said, and guessed at "laugh like Cole," "love like Cole," "live like Cole" and "long live Cole." "Every one felt perfect," he said. "They're more than words on a shirt now. They're a reminder of who Cole was, and who we can all strive to be."

Adrian said the family also leaned heavily on their Christian faith. He recalled a double rainbow over McPherson on Monday morning, which he took as "a promise" from heaven that Cole and Nick are together. He pictured his son running full speed through heaven's gates, as he had run across the soccer field many times, and saying the words the family heard so often: "best day ever."

Investigators have asked the public to be patient while they work to establish what caused the crash. Wichita police chief Joe Sullivan issued a statement defending the decision to release the driver the day after the incident. He acknowledged the case has drawn national attention and strong opinions from people without direct knowledge of what happened.

"We recognize that the decision the law and constitution required us to make on [18 October] may not be popular," Sullivan said, as reported by Kansas NPR affiliate KCUR. He added that officers swear an oath to support Kansas law and the US constitution, and that no one in the department takes that oath for granted.