GAINESVILLE, Ga. — It was a prank that turned deadly, authorities said: A group of teenagers unspooled rolls of toilet paper outside the home of a beloved high school teacher who tripped in the street and was struck by a pickup truck as the pranksters started to drive away.
The 40-year-old teacher, Jason Hughes, died after being taken to a hospital late Friday, the Hall County Sheriff's Office said. The 18-year-old driver of the pickup was arrested on a felony charge of vehicular homicide, and four other teens were charged with misdemeanors.
And Hughes' family said he knew and loved the five students involved and urged authorities to drop all charges against them.
“This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students,” Hughes' family said in a statement provided to The Associated Press on Monday. “This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication of investing in the lives of these children.”
Hughes taught math and helped coach golf, football and baseball at North Hall High School in Gainesville, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.
One of Hughes' neighbors, Ty Talley, said the toilet paper prank was part of tradition in which North Hall students play practical jokes on teachers during prom season.
“It was nothing malicious,” Talley said. “It was just a prank that kids play on their teachers and each other. I did it as a kid.”
The day before Hughes' death, the Hall County school system posted a message urging students to refrain from any prom-season pranks resulting in property damage or destruction. It warned of "serious consequences that can arise from engaging in destructive behavior."
Students and Hughes' fellow teachers left a makeshift memorial of flowers piled along a section of fence outside the school.
Sean Pender, the school's football coach, said that Hughes helped players with their academics and was a also a man of deep faith who led a weekly Bible study for other coaches.
“What made Jason so special was the way he did it,” Pender wrote in a social media post. “He never judged. He never forced anything on anyone. He simply loved people well. He met people where they were, lifted them up, and reminded them that they mattered.”
The teenagers pulled up in two vehicles outside Hughes' home at about 11:40 p.m. Friday and began wrapping his trees with toilet paper, the sheriff's office said in a news release. It said the teens started to leave when Hughes came out of the house.
As one of the teens began to drive away in a pickup truck, “Hughes tripped and fell into the road and was run over,” the sheriff's office said.
After Hughes was struck, the teens stopped and tried to render aid until emergency responders arrived, according to the sheriff's office.
Hughes' family said he wasn't trying to confront the teens, but rather had heard in advance about their prank and hoped to surprise them.
Authorities charged the pickup's driver, Jayden Ryan Wallace, with first-degree vehicular homicide — a felony punishable by three to 15 years in prison under Georgia law. He was also charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor.
No one answered the door when a reporter knocked at Wallace's home Monday. His case did not show up in online court records, and it was not immediately known if he had an attorney who could speak for him.
The four other teens were charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal trespassing and littering on private property, the sheriff's office said.
Decisions on whether or how to prosecute the teens ultimately lie with Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh.
“I’m not commenting on that case presently,” Darragh told an AP reporter by phone Monday. “I don’t have enough information about it to do so.”
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.
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