OSU Memorial grows, injured survivor shares his story

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Teddy bears, flowers, candles and signs continue to spread along the southeast corner of Main Street and Hall of Fame Avenue Monday as people stop by to pay their respects for the four killed and 46 injured Saturday when a vehicle was driven into two separate crowds of people during the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade.

Angela Phillips, 27, of Stillwater, who was riding on a Thriller Dance Studio float in the parade, Monday visited the scene of the incident where her friend Tao Wu was injured.

Phillips remembers waving to him when she passed by on the float.

She was already safe at home when she learned of the accident.

“My heart broke when I found out,” Phillips said.

Wu, 34, of Stillwater, was kneeling at the intersection with his 19-month-old daughter in his arms so she had a better view of the parade when he heard a noise, looked up and saw the vehicle coming at him from 20 feet away.

“The car was like a bowling ball hitting people,” Wu said. “There were bodies on the car when it hit me.”

Wu remembers squeezing his daughter tight and leaning back before passing out for a few seconds.

When he came to, his pregnant wife – who was crying and standing over him – picked up their unharmed daughter.

Wu suffered injuries to both his lower legs and has about a 1/4 inch dent in his bruised left calf.

He was treated and released from Stillwater Medical Center and was back at work as a lab manager in the Boone Pickens School of Geology on Monday.

His father, Yuming Wu, 62, visiting from Nan Jing, China, was standing several feet away when he was knocked to the ground, suffering a small cut to the head.

“My dad didn’t get hit by the car but by flying people,” Wu believes, since his father was standing well beyond where the vehicle stopped.

He was also treated and released from Stillwater Medical Center.

“I’m very thankful for nurses who weren’t on duty who helped,” Wu said. “My dad said he felt cold and a nurse took off her hoodie and wrapped it around his neck.”

Wu is grateful that his daughter and wife were unharmed and that he and his father survived.

He is praying for the others who were injured and the families of those that passed away.

Bitton writes for The Stillwater (Oklahoma) News Press