IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

3rd teen cross-country runner dies after driver plows into high school team

A day after his adult son was killed in a car crash, Max Leroy Townsend drove across two lanes of traffic and onto a sidewalk, hitting seven members of a school cross-country team.
Emergency crews respond at the scene where a vehicle hit several Moore High School students in Moore, Okla., on Feb. 3, 2020.
Emergency crews respond at the scene where a vehicle hit several Moore High School students in Moore, Okla., on Feb. 3, 2020.Chris Landsberger / The Oklahoman via AP

OKLAHOMA CITY — A third member of a suburban Oklahoma City high school cross-country team who was struck by a speeding pickup truck earlier this month has died.

Kolby Crum, 18, died Saturday at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman April Sandefer.

Crum was among seven members of the Moore High School cross-country team who were struck while running on a Moore sidewalk on Feb. 3, authorities said. According to police, the driver, 57-year-old Max Leroy Townsend, was going 79 mph (127 kph) in a 25 mph (40 kph) zone when he crossed two lanes of traffic onto the sidewalk and struck the students and several parked cars.

Student Rachel Freeman, 17, died on the day of the crash and Yuridia Martinez, 16, died the next day.

Townsend was charged last week with two counts of manslaughter, and several counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident. He remained jailed Saturday on $1.2 million bond.

Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn told The Oklahoman that he plans to charge Townsend with a third manslaughter count.

The day before the crash, Townsend’s 28-year-old son was killed in a multivehicle auto accident in Moore. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on Townsend’s behalf.