Teacher with ‘a huge heart for her kids’ is pinned under an SUV at a Missouri school
Angel Hayes was the kind of teacher who felt a calling to guide her kindergarten students toward their best selves, according to her school district.
“She would fight tooth and nail when she thought something was right for her kids,” her former principal told The Joplin Globe on Thursday, a day after the 48-year-old was killed right outside Benton Elementary in Neosho, Missouri.
Hayes was run over in the school crosswalk, police told the newspaper, after class had let out for the day, amid a scene that unfolds daily at schools across the country: parents picking up their kids in the school parking lot under teacher supervision.
Neosho police found Hayes trapped underneath an SUV in a Benton Elementary School parking lot at about 3:30 p.m., according to KOAM. Emergency personnel lifted the vehicle off of Hayes’ body using an airbag device, the station reported.
A student’s grandfather, identified by authorities as 88-year-old Erwin Parker, was driving the SUV, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
“Mr. Erwin’s account of the accident was that he was in the parent pick-up line. His foot got trapped between the brake and accelerator, causing his vehicle to lurch forward,” Neosho Police Chief David Kennedy told the newspaper. “Once that happened, he struck Mrs. Hayes, continued through the parking lot until he struck another vehicle, which stopped the vehicle.”
Hayes was pronounced dead at the scene.
“[Wednesday] was one of those days school administrators pray they will never have to face,” school administrators said in a Facebook post. “Teachers not only teach together, they attend church together, spend time with each other’s families, and raise their own children together. This loss will be felt just as the loss of a family member.”
The Globe reported that as of Thursday, no charges had been filed against Erwin or anyone else in the case, after his SUV dragged Hayes underneath for 20-25 yards in the parking lot before hitting the other vehicle.
Hayes had taught in the Neosho School District for 19 years, according to the district’s Facebook post.
This story was originally published September 7, 2018 at 10:02 AM.