Troopers Investigate Wreck That Killed Durant Boy - KTEN.com - No One Gets You Closer

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DURANT, OK -- As troopers continue to investigate a crash that killed an 11-year-old boy, several other children and adults who were riding in the SUV were released from the hospital.

Troopers say the SUV was speeding and they are waiting on a blood test on the driver to determine whether he was intoxicated. Family members are trying to deal with the death of a boy who was in the back with several other kids when the SUV rolled.

Students at Durant Intermediate School returned Tuesday to find some classmates missing following a one-vehicle wreck on Sunday.

"My cousin called me and told me to call my aunt that there was a bad accident," says Samantha Dalrymple, a cousin of the driver and some passengers.

Joseph Miller, 11, died when the 1997 Mercury SUV he was riding in ran off the road on Rock Creek Road near Blue. Troopers say it is unclear exactly where he was sitting, but that none of the 7 people inside were wearing a seatbelt.

"Alcohol is a contributing factor, speed is a contributing factor," says OHP Trooper Brad Dansby. "The vehicle departs the road on the right, strikes a fence, a tree, overturns, everybody's unrestrained, so they got tossed out."

Funeral arrangements at Brown's Funeral Home have not yet been set for the boy. We're told he was riding in the SUV with his aunt, who is the girlfriend of the driver.

"It was an accident," says Dalrymple. "They don't know if he was drinking or not and accidents do happen and only God knows why the little boy's life was taken and not someone else's."

Results are pending from a blood test on driver Clyde Powell, 28, who was taken to Plano Medical Center in stable condition, as was Virginia Miller, 33, and Leah Homer, 14, who each sustained critical injuries.

Friends say Smokey Fannon, 9, along with brothers Jessie, 14, and Frank, 15, were treated and released from MCSO in Durant.

"We're actually taking the evidence to the lab today," says Dansby. "There's still some interviews that need to be done, anybody that was riding, anybody else that might have seen him driving down the road."

'It's very sad," says Dalrymple. "It could have been my kids. I've always told my kids to be careful, don't drive too fast."

Powell has faced DUI charges in the past and troopers say there was an odor of alcoholic beverage. Only one teen, Homer, remains in the hospital and was listed in fair condition, OHP Lt. Scott Hampton said.