The funeral service has been announced for Georgia high school teacher Jason Hughes, who was killed a week ago during a prom prank gone wrong.
Hughes’ funeral will be held at Family Church at 3590 Thompson Bridge Road in Gainesville, Georgia, on Saturday, March 14, at 11 a.m., according to his obituary.
“Because of Jason’s widespread influence on so many, we anticipate many people will want to attend his memorial service at Family Church. To accommodate everyone, a gathering space will be available on the field at Family Church where the service will be live-streamed,” the obituary stated.
The instructions continued: “We are asking students/community attendees outside of those listed below to park at North Hall High School and North Hall Middle School where shuttling will take attendees to Family Church. Buses will begin loading at 9:30 AM to take attendees to Family Church and last arrival shuttles will stop loading at 10:30 AM. Shuttling will resume to return attendees to North Hall High and Middle School from Family Church at the end of the memorial service.”
Hughes died at the age of 40 when he was allegedly struck outside of his home by a truck driven by his student Jayden Wallace on March 6. Wallace, 18, was at Hughes’ home with four other students to toilet paper the teacher’s property as part of an annual school prank.
When Hughes ran out of his home, he tripped and fell in front of the vehicle that Wallace was driving. Wallace then ran over Hughes, causing him to suffer serious injuries.
The five teens stopped to help Hughes, though the math teacher ultimately died.
Wallace was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving, while Elijah Owens, Aiden Hucks, Ana Luque and Ariana Cruz were all charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespassing and littering.
Following Hughes’ death, his widow, Laura Hughes, said she would like the charges against the students to be dropped.
She told The New York Times that her husband “was excited” for the prank and “was waiting to catch them in the act.”
Laura, who is also a teacher, went on to say that her family “supports getting the charges dropped for all involved.”
“This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students,” she said. “This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication of investing in the lives of these children.”
Four days after the incident, Wallace and his parents broke their silence about the tragedy in a statement to 11Alive.
“We are a family in deep remorse and grieving over such a tremendous loss in our North Hall community. Jason Hughes meant the world to our son, Jayden,” the family said on Tuesday, March 10. “He took the time to invest in Jay and poured his love into him, making a lasting impact. Along with the rest of our family, Jay expresses his deepest sorrow and sincerest apology to the Hughes family.”
Wallace also said he pledged to “live out the remainder of my life in a manner that honors the memory of Coach Hughes by exemplifying Christ. He will never be forgotten.”
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