MIAMI, Okla.--Four members of the Hooks family from Oklahoma City were on their way to see one of their relatives get ordained when they were killed in Friday’s gruesome pileup, multi-vehicle crash that, so far, has a death toll of 10.The Hooks were traveling on the Will Rogers Turnpike when they joined six other vehicles, which had stopped because of another accident.
That’s when a tractor-trailer rig plowed into their car, as well as into the other cars at a standstill, causing a pileup and a chain-reaction of cars, SUV’s and trucks.
Nine were counted dead soon after. Another was added to the list of dead on Sunday.
Oral Hooks, 69, and his wife Earline Hooks, 63, were among the dead, and so were their sons, Antonio Hooks, 42, and Dione Hooks, 41.
The four were traveling to Missouri, and they wanted to stand proud when Ronnie Hooks would be called forth, and, after much pomp and circumstance, would be declared a newly-ordained minister.
“They were on their way to see me in St. Louis,” Ronnie Hooks said, barely able to control his emotions. “I was to be ordained as an elder in the Church of God in Christ.”
Ronnie Hooks was another son of Oral and Earline Hooks.
The other day, Ronnie Hooks and his other brothers had gathered in Oklahoma City to make funeral arrangements for their parents, and for Dione Hooks and Antonio Hooks.
Oral Hooks was “semi-retired,” Ronnie Hooks said, and his mother was a housewife.
Dione Hooks was a labor worker, and Antonio Hooks was a disabled veteran, their brother pointed out.
Shelby Hayes, 35, of Frisco, Texas, had survived the gruesome crash, and had been flown to a hospital in Joplin, Mo., but she died on Sunday.
Mrs. Hayes had been pinned in the wreckage for about two hours before she was taken to the hospital.
Two others with her died at the scene: Randall Hayes, 38, and Ethan Hayes, 7.
The others killed in the pileup were Cynthia Olson, 55, of Crossroads, Texas; Ricardo Reyes, 39; and his wife Ernestina Reyes.
Donald Creed of Willard, Mo., the 76-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer rig that slammed into the vehicles Friday afternoon, was hospitalized in good condition.
Mr. Creed could face as many as 10 negligent homicide charges, Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are going through the truck that a state highway patrol spokesman said hit a string of seven vehicles Friday.
The pileup occurred on the turnpike north of this town.
Investigators have determined that the 2009 tractor and the 2008 trailer were roadworthy, Capt. Craig Medcalf, of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said.
The truck’s brake pads were deemed to be in good condition, too, Capt. Medcalf said.
“In an accident of this magnitude, everything’s going to be closely [examined],” he said.
The rig involved is owned by Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas City, Kan.
The trucking company, which owns 219 trucks operated by 316 drivers, has a satisfactory rating, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records.
Records show no problems with drivers and an above-average out-of-service rate.
The out-of-service rate indicates how frequently trucks have been taken off the road after inspectors find a safety threat.
The company’s rate is 27.7 percent, compared with the national average of 23.1 percent.
Over the past two years, Associated Wholesale Grocers has had 20 traffic accidents, and, of those, there were six injuries and no fatalities.
The National Transportation Safety Board does not record fault in accidents.
