Youth football coach shares memories of teen killed in Christmas crash

5 hours ago SOMERSET, Mass. (WLNE) -- The man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash[1] that led to the death of two Seekonk grandparents and their young grandchild is set to face a judge on new charges Tuesday. Jacoby, 15, and his grandparents, 68-year-old Donna and 73-year-old Floriano Arruda, who friends knew as Flo, were hit by a wrong-way driver on the Veterans Memorial Bridge in Somerset late Christmas night.

The crash killed Jacoby and Flo that night, and Donna died at the hospital four days later. "I was speechless, didn't have words, it was hard very hard at that point to hear about," said Sampson Blevines, Jacoby's former football coach. "And to hear Donna was still hanging on, you know, I was trying to get updates often, early and often, as I heard it, so it was tough." Blevines coached Jacoby in the Dartmouth Youth Football League from age five to eight.

"That kid was amazing. He was one that, when he got to practice, it was always 'coach throw me the ball' and he wants to show me his hands," Blevines told ABC 6 News Anchor Alyssa Azzara. "He was always the kid that listened, always the most improved kid, always," Blevines continued.

As a coach, Blevines said he has fond memories of Jacoby, who had a passion for life and the game of football. "I would give him a task or a critique, and he would kind of obsess over it a little bit and make sure he perfected it," Blevines recalled. "Definitely always giving it his all and his best, and that's all I could ever ask for and that's why I love the kid." Jacoby's father passed when he was young, Donna and Flo then lovingly raised him.

Over the years, Blevines said he grew to know the family well, with Donna and Flo never missing a game. "Flo was always there. Donna was always there.

They were such great role models for him and would give the world to him," Blevines recounted.

On Tuesday, the wrong-way driver who police say was driving drunk when he hit the Arruda's SUV, 41-year-old Adam Gauthier[2], will appear in Fall River District Court on new charges related to Donna's death, including motor vehicle homicide.

"When you have a bright young man with his whole future ahead of him, and a family basically that you've basically changed forever because of stupid decisions that [Gauthier] made, there's no excuse for it," Blevines said. "I think that he should face as many years as possible."

References

1. ^ driving drunk and causing a crash (www.abc6.com)
2. ^ Adam Gauthier (www.abc6.com)