West Lafayette mourns loss of 14-year-old boy in car crash

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — People in West Lafayette feel an emptiness as they grieve the loss of 14 year-old Zachary Hyde. 

Hyde was in a car crash June 30 returning to Indiana from a family trip to Michigan. He died on July 6 from a brain injury. 

Both his soccer coach and a youth leader at his church said Hyde had a zest for life. He was athletic, adventurous and most importantly he was kind.

In talking with people who know the Hyde family, it was clear giving back is important to them. The family was supposed to be on a mission trip in Jamaica this week. Hyde’s soccer coach said those qualities are the things he will miss most.

“After every training session, every game he would always come to the coaches and he would come to us and say ‘thank you,’ you know, whether it been just a simple training session or a game, he would always kind of have that gratitude and say ‘thank you,’” Alex Sangsuwangul said.

Hyde would have been a freshman at West Lafayette High School in the fall.

He also spent a lot of time at Covenant Church. His youth leader there said the past few days haven’t been easy. 

“There is a sense of reality, there is a sense of realness to just how fragile life is,” Caleb Cornell said. 

But, the youth leader was left with wonderful memories. “He was joyful, he walked in every week with a smile on his face and no shoes on…he loved to go barefoot,” Cornell said. 

Hyde’s parents and one of his siblings were also injured in the crash. 

A family friend made a GoFundMe page to help the Hyde family cover medical expenses.