Tulsa Woman Killed In Accident Buried On Would-Be Wedding Day

What would've been a Tulsa woman's wedding day is now the day she'll be buried, and police say a drunk driver is to blame.

One of the first things the mother and brother of Katrina Taylor said was that they forgive the man police say caused her death; a man who, after the crash, spent time at the Tulsa County Jail on complaints of manslaughter, driving under the influence and running a stop sign.

"This was supposed to be her great day, not her funeral day," Taylor's mother, Reba York said.

York should have been preparing for a wedding Saturday, the day her daughter chose to marry Chris Nicholson.

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"All these people that are here, they should've been here to laugh and celebrate and throw rice," she said.

Instead, Reba, her son Thomas Dunn, and hundreds of others are mourning the loss of the bride; the compassionate, protective 37-year-old, a mother of two, with a new life ahead of her.

"It's hard to find somebody to say anything bad about my sister," Dunn said.

Glenpool police said Taylor didn't have a chance of survival when Artussee Mitchell Fields ran a stop sign and rammed the passenger's side of her fiancé's car, where Katrina was sitting, early Sunday morning on Highway 75 near 181st Street.

Police said Fields was under the influence of alcohol.

Reba: "You always think it happens to someone else, ‘I'm just going down the street,' or ‘I'm just going to run this errand,'"
Thomas: “I've only had a couple."
Reba: "Yeah, whatever the excuse is, we've all made them, and we know better now."

Now, Taylor doesn't get to become Mrs. Nicholson and she'll never begin her new job, which she was supposed to start Monday.

"I am wearing the dress that I bought for her wedding," York said. “She saw one on me, she said, 'Oh my God, mom. That's the one.'"

York and Thomas could feel anger towards the man police said caused the collision, but they don't.

“It was a horrible mistake. The price will be paid, and we forgive you," York said.

The family is asking people to stop drinking and driving.

There is a GoFundMe account for Taylor's fiancé and two children.

Police said Mitch Fields was driving drunk, but prosecutors have not yet filed any charges.