Texas Truck Driver Charged in Fatal Oklahoma Crash Has Died

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A Texas truck driver accused of causing a 2014 crash in Oklahoma that killed four college softball players has died by suicide at his home.

The prosecutor in the Oklahoma case, Murray County District Attorney Craig Ladd, confirmed to The Oklahoman that 55-year-old Russell Staley died just days before a scheduled court hearing.

Staley, of Saginaw, Texas, was headed north on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma at night on Sept. 26, 2014, when his 18-wheel tractor-trailer veered into a median and into the southbound lanes near Davis, Oklahoma. It crashed into a bus carrying 15 softball players from North Central Texas College.

Tarrant County medical examiner’s office records show Staley died on Jan. 27 of a gunshot wound at his home north of Fort Worth, Texas.

Staley was scheduled for trial in March on four counts of manslaughter in the deaths of the softball players.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton said Staley was driving alone on his way from North Texas to Oklahoma. He didn’t have any freight aboard the tractor-trailer.

Staley drove an estimated 950 feet through the median and off the highway before wrecking the trailer in the middle of several trees, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said.