Kansas Father Pays Emotional Tribute at Funeral of Six-Year-Old Cole, Killed in Soccer Field Crash

The funeral was held on Monday for Cole Adrian, the six-year-old boy killed when a woman drove through a soccer game at a park in Wichita, Kansas. At the service, his father, Chris Adrian, paid an emotional tribute to his son.

The tragedy happened on 17 October at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita. Alongside Cole, Nicholas Schafer, 35, was also killed. Schafer was a soccer coach and middle school teacher from McPherson, about an hour north of Wichita, as was Cole's family.

According to police, a pickup truck driven by a 34-year-old woman reportedly sped from a parking lot and across the pitch where a game was under way. The driver reportedly had two of her own children in the car with her, according to police.

Ten other people were injured, including girls aged five and nine, two boys aged eight, and one five-year-old boy.

The suspected driver, from Garden City, Kansas, was arrested at the scene. She was released a day later without charges pending further investigation, including the results of toxicology testing as well as an examination of her truck. The tragedy remains under police investigation.

The service for Cole at McPherson Free Methodist church was livestreamed. Speaking through tears, Chris Adrian remembered Cole as an energetic, fun-loving child who loved life and “captured the heart” of everyone he met.

Adrian said during the eulogy: “Cole often told us this was the ‘best day ever’, even on days when nothing really special happened. He found joy in the simplest things, and had a way of making ordinary days feel extraordinary. The world would be a much brighter place if we all had a little bit more of Cole's heart.”

At a game days after Cole's death, players from the Wichita youth soccer community wore tribute shirts bearing the letters “LLCA”. Adrian said his family had taken comfort from that support. At Monday's service he explained that the family had at first not known what the letters stood for, before settling on “love like Cole”, along with readings such as “laugh like Cole” and “live like Cole”.

“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,” he said. Adrian also said his family had leaned heavily on their Christian faith.

Investigators have urged the public to be patient as they continue to work through the circumstances of the case in search of a cause. Wichita's police chief, Joe Sullivan, released a statement defending the release of the driver the day after the tragedy.

Sullivan said: “We know that this case has captured the attention of people all over the country, and many of those people have strong opinions even though they do not have direct knowledge of what occurred. We recognize that the decision the law and constitution required us to make on [18 October] may not be popular. We swear an oath to support the laws of the state of Kansas and the constitution of the US, and no one in the Wichita police department takes that oath for granted.”