Friends and family gather to mourn crash victim
Friends and family of James Paul Haughey are remembering him with a tattoo that epitomized the young man’s view of the world in two simple words: Live life.
The tattoo ink on the arms of a handful of mourners gathered Thursday evening at a viewing service was still fresh.
Sobs of grieving family members rung out in the funeral chapel as more than 200 people showed up to pay their respects to Haughey, one of two high school students killed in a car crash last week.
Many people broke down as they approached the open casket. At one point, a family member led the group in saying the rosary.
“He was just a normal kid, just like anyone,” said R.C. Equina, who played on the Bethlehem Catholic High School volleyball team with Haughey.
Haughey and his schoolmate Sarah Wensley were on their way to track and field practice when they were hit by a vehicle allegedly driven by two car thieves.
Another teen girl remains in hospital.
Taylor Banyay, one of the people who showed up for the viewing, said his school has been rocked by the tragedy.
“He was the hardest-working kid I knew. He showed me that every day on the volleyball court, but also in the classroom,” Banyay said.
The woman accused of driving the stolen truck involved in the fatal crash appeared by video in a Saskatoon courtroom Thursday.
Cheyann Peeteetuce, 21, faces 14 more charges in connection with the crash in which a stolen truck evading police collided with two cars on 22nd Street West. The truck plowed a car into the side of Harder’s Family Wellness Centre, killing Haughey and Wensley, and injuring a 17-year-old girl who remains in hospital.
The other accused, who cannot be named because of her age, remains in custody in Saskatoon. On Thursday, court heard she has been charged with another auto theft that allegedly happened before last week’s crash.
Police Chief Clive Weighill said he has already met with both victims’ families and has been personally shaken by the crash.
“That was one of the saddest days of my life,” Weighill said at a board of police commissioners meeting Thursday.
Weighill spent a portion of the meeting fighting off assertions that Peeteetuce and her 17-year-old co-accused were in a high-speed pursuit with police. He said he has seen the dashboard video from the incident.
Once the officer turned on his lights, Peeteetuce sped off towards 22nd Street, Weighill said. That’s when the crash happened.
Haughey’s viewing will continue through this evening. His burial is scheduled for Saturday.