A teen basketball star named Ava Jones and her mother were both hit by a driver who may have been drunk in Kentucky. Both are in critical condition.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the tragedy took place in the middle of Louisville on Tuesday, July 5. After the terrible thing happened, Ava, her mother Amy, and her father William were all taken right away to the University of Louisville Hospital. Ava’s younger brother was hurt in the event, and he was taken to Norton Children’s Hospital.
William “Trey” Jones III, Ava’s father, died at the hospital on Thursday, July 7 from his injuries. Last week, Ava’s grandma, Mary Jones, said, “Ava is steady but important. Amy is stable but also in trouble, but she has a lot going on. Both of them are still using a ventilator. They are trying to get Ava off, but it is taking a long time. Just go slowly.” The driver who hit the Jones family has since been named as 33-year-old Michael Hurley from Lexington, Indiana. This is what the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department said.
Hurley was arrested right away and charged with four counts of first-degree assault, driving under the influence, and having a license without permission. When William died on Thursday, July 7, Hurley was charged with murder. The LMPD report says that Hurley was driving through downtown Louisville on Tuesday, July 5. When he tried to turn left, his car went off the road and hit four members of the Jones family.
Even though alcohol had nothing to do with the terrible accident, the 33-year-old driver reportedly told the LMPD that he had taken hydrocodone, an opioid mostly used to treat pain and stop coughing, which made him “so tired that he couldn’t make the turn.” Hurley said he wasn’t guilty at an arraignment hearing on July 6, the day after the accident. He is in jail and has to pay a $500,000 bond until his trial on the seven charges.
PEOPLE says that on Tuesday, July 5, the Jones family left their home in Nickerson, Kansas, to go to Louisville for a basketball tournament that Ava and the rest of her team were supposed to play in. On July 10, teachers, students, staff, and friends gathered at Nickerson High School for a candlelight vigil for the Jones family’s recovery. The event was held on a track that had just been built in honor of Ava’s father, who taught and coached track at a Kansas school.
Rick Blosser, the principal of Nickerson High School, told the crowd that Trey’s vital organs were being taken from him at the University of Louisville Hospital. More than $109,692 has been raised so far through a GoFundMe campaign for the Jones family to help pay for their medical bills and help them heal from the sad tragedy they had to go through.