Son of Iowa Men's Basketball Coach Cited in Fatal Iowa City Crash

In a Wednesday morning press release, the Iowa City Police Department announced one of the sons of Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery has been cited after an accident late this spring. A Cedar Rapids man died from injuries sustained in the incident.

Monday afternoon, May 22, just after 4:15 p.m., a vehicle-pedestrian accident happened at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Kennedy Parkway. The location is between Highway 218 and Iowa City West High School.

According to the release from the Iowa City Police Department, 45-year-old Corey Hite of Cedar Rapids suffered serious injuries in the incident. He passed away from his injuries just under two weeks later, on Sunday, June 4.

Iowa City Police say that, "Following a thorough investigation, and after consultation with the Johnson County Attorney's Office, the driver of the vehicle that struck Hite, Jonathan J.F. McCaffery, 16, of North Liberty, has been cited with Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian in a Crosswalk, a simple misdemeanor."

According to the Gazette, Hite was out for a jog when he was struck and injured. Hite had been a member of the Iowa Army National Guard for 27 years at the time of the accident.

Jonathan McCaffery is the youngest son of Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery. The Iowa City Police Department states that "Under the Iowa code, a violation of this misdemeanor resulting in a death is punishable by a $1,000 fine, a driver's license suspension of up to 180 days, or both."

In a Wednesday statement, Fran and Margaret McCaffery said,

On May 22nd, just after leaving school, our 16-year-old son was the driver in a vehicle/pedestrian accident. Investigators have told us that it was an unavoidable accident with no evidence of distracted driving. The pedestrian, who was jogging at the time of the accident, was waved in front of our son’s passing vehicle by the driver of another vehicle...
We are devastated by this tragedy. SFC (Sgt. First Class) Hite’s family has our deepest sympathies. While our family continues to process the events of the past weeks and help our son cope with this accident, we will have no further comment at this time.