her husband, beloved Lower Merion High School principal Sean Hughes, was killed in a car crash.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI heard the machines and their alarms,\u201d she said. \u201cI watched my husband, my best friend, my partner in life, die in front of me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On November 13, 2021, shortly before 7:30 a.m., Azuka Ossai, 55, was driving a Mercedes SUV at the intersection of Fleming Pike and Hays Road in Winslow Township, New Jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police said Ossai was speeding and went through a stop sign when he crashed into a Ford SUV driven by Sean Hughes. Hughes, 51, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead later that day at 10:19 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hughes\u2019 13-year-old son was also inside the vehicle and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Hughes was taking the teen to a soccer tournament at the time of the crash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ossai was arrested on March 10, 2022, and charged with vehicular homicide by operating a vehicle recklessly and assault by auto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kristi Hughes addressed Ossai directly during his sentencing hearing on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you aware of the value of the life you took? And the value of the lives you destroyed?\u201d she asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kristi Hughes, who is also a cancer survivor, said she asked her teenage sons to leave the courtroom on Thursday because they have \u201cbeen through enough pain, trauma and anguish.\u201d Her 11-year-old daughter also refused to attend the sentencing hearing, which was ultimately the result of a plea agreement negotiated by the prosecutor and defense attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the agreement, Ossai admitted to speeding through the stop sign at Fleming Pike and Hays Road before crashing into Hughes\u2019 vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have so many questions about that moment,\u201d Kristi Hughes said Thursday. \u201cLike how can you speed through and miss a stop sign that you travel through every day to and from work? Were you rushing to get to that butcher shop? Was it really that important? Were you on your phone? Were you under the influence?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ossai, who was a caretaker at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, was in tears as he apologized in front of Hughes\u2019 widow and other loved ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople throughout Lower Merion Township are mourning the death of longtime Lower Merion principal Sean Hughes. NBC10’s Miguel Martinez-Valle reports from Lower Merion High School.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Judge Yolanda Rodriguez called Hughes\u2019 death an extraordinary loss for his family and the thousands of lives he touched in the Lower Merion School District. She ultimately decided to sentence Ossai to 90 days in home confinement or house arrest, five years probation and numerous fines. She factored in the fact that he is paying $5,000 in restitution, performing community service and had never been in any trouble with the law prior to the deadly crash.<\/p>\n
As the principal of Lower Merion High School for 14 years, Hughes was an educator, coach and mentor to thousands of generations of students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so jealous of Sean because he just knew everyone and everyone knew him. He knew every single student by name,” Wallingford School District Superintendent Dr. Wagner Marseille said in his impact statement in the courtroom on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his letter to families announcing Hughes\u2019 death in 2021, Lower Merion School superintendent Dr. Khalid N. Mumin wrote that Hughes was \u201cbeloved\u201d by thousands of Lower Merion students over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew most of them by name and always had time to listen to their concerns, cheer them on and support their accomplishments,\u201d Dr. Mumin wrote. \u201cThey greeted him in the halls by calling out his signature nickname, ‘Huuuuuuughes.’ He welcomed each one at 9th grade orientation and proudly handed out diplomas at their graduations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to being the principal of Lower Merion High School, Hughes was also President of the Central Athletic League.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t finished with living,\u201d Kristi Hughes said. \u201cOne person\u2019s carelessness robbed us of this amazing and gifted individual far too soon and with far too much left to give his family and colleagues, his students and the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“Character Counts” is what Sean Hughes taught his staff and students as principal of Lower Merion High School, and that was one of the messages taped to his window Sunday as the school community mourned his death. Hughes died in a car crash Saturday. NBC10’s Brian Sheehan reports.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What to KnowA New Jersey man was sentenced on Thursday for a 2021 car crash that killed beloved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[183,185,184,186,200,915,28],"class_list":["post-230867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-montgomery-county","tag-new-jersey","tag-pennsylvania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}