The family of a husband and wife killed in a Green Bay crash released a statement Monday evening.
James C. Rush, 52 and his wife, Wendy L. Rush, 47, both of Hobart were killed in a crash at Packerland and Oakwood drive in Green Bay. The driver of the SUV involved, Daniel R. Boucher, 27 of Green Bay, has been charged with two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of motor vehicle; two counts of operating a motor vehicle while revoked, causing death; one count of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one count of operating a motor vehicle while revoked causing great bodily harm.
The family of the victims sent this statement to NBC26:
“We would like to provide this statement on behalf of the family of Jim and Wendy Rush.
Jim and Wendy Rush were loving, devoted parents and active members of their community. Married for 21 years, they were returning from a dinner out together Friday night when their lives were tragically cut short. We thank God that their two children, Christopher and Megan, were not with them at the time of this senseless and entirely preventable tragedy.
This tragedy affects the entire community. We are all devastated by this tremendous loss and by the permanent void this has created in the lives of their children, both of whom currently attend Pulaski High School.
Jim was Director of Logistics for Creative Converting in Clintonville, and Wendy was Director of Marketing at Integrative Therapeutics in Green Bay. They each dedicated time and energy to local youth groups and enhanced many young lives in the Green Bay area, as well as in Elgin, Illinois, where they lived previously.
Jim was a baseball coach with the Pulaski Youth Organization as well as with the Tri-Cities Little League in Illinois. Wendy was an active member of the Pulaski High School Music Boosters and was also heavily involved in the PYO baseball teams.
We have spoken with the assistant principal at Pulaski High School and they will have a Crisis team in place to help kids who may be impacted tomorrow. It is critical that we focus on helping all of the children cope at a time like this.
We want to reassure everyone that we are doing all we can to safeguard the children and help them navigate this tragedy.
We would like to thank the Green Bay police department and emergency services for being so responsive, as well as child protective services for taking care of the children until family could arrive. We also want to thank the accident investigation team from Brown County and others who worked so diligently to understand what happened, as well as the District Attorney’s office for commencing their pursuit of justice. Lastly, we want to thank the many friends and neighbors who continue to be there to support the kids and our family at this difficult time.
Words simply cannot express our grief. Right now we are focused on the immediate needs of the children.” We have established a Go Fund Me page to help support the children’s needs at: gofundme.com/v4qpb7ms.
Boucher appeared in court on Monday afternoon where a $250,000 cash bond was set with restrictions of no driving, no alcohol and he's not allowed to go into taverns or liquor stores.
