PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 04, 2022
AFTERMATH: ‘It showed the
empathy that was there'
Continued from page A1
Graduates Facebook page on Jan. 22.
Nicole Garcia, a former student of
Hughes, said Hughes had been one of the
fi rst teachers she had in the Chemeketa
Nursing program.
“The very fi rst day of my fi rst year in
the program we had an orientation and
in walk all the scary professors and you're
kind of feeling them out, seeing which
one is the most intimidating,” Garcia
said. “In walks Moira with one of her ther-
apy dogs. And I immediately was like,
there's something about somebody who
would bring a therapy dog to work with
them for their nursing school students. It
showed the empathy that was there.”
Garcia said that Hughes would often
bring her therapy dogs to class and it
made an impact on her. Garcia now
works with foster kids in the Department
of Human Services and for years has
wanted to get a therapy dog for her work.
One week before Hughes passed, Garcia
adopted a puppy to begin training as a
therapy dog.
“I had been actually working on an
email to Moira with a bunch of ques-
tions and to let her know, that she was
the inspiration for (the puppy). When
I heard about her death, it was just one
of those things where you always think
you're going to have time to say some-
thing to somebody. And I never was able
to do that. But she's left a legacy for many
reasons,” Garcia said.
Following Heitz’s death on Jan. 29,
Keizer police said that Modine, the
alleged drunk driver, will be charged with
an additional count of Manslaughter in
the First Degree.
According to a Keizer police offi cer’s
probable cause statement, Modine was
driving his Gray Dodge pick-up truck on
the morning of Jan. 22 when he struck
a power pole and swerved the side of a
home on Trail Avenue in Keizer. A neigh-
bor, according to the offi cer's statement,
said that she believed Heitz and Hughes
were inside the room the vehicle had
driven into.
The offi cer’s statement said, “It was
discovered Mr. Heitz was on a bed in the
room, trapped under the vehicle.”
A blood draw done at Salem Hospital
following the crash showed that Modine
had a .24 blood alcohol content, three
times the legal limit, according to the
offi cer’s statement.
Modine has now been charged with
two counts of fi rst-degree manslaughter,
second-degree assault, reckless endan-
germent, reckless driving, driving under
the infl uence of intoxicants, driving
while criminally suspended, second-de-
gree criminal mischief and a probation
violation.
Modine has lodged at Marion County
Correctional Facility and was denied bail
on Jan. 24. He was set to have an arraign-
ment hearing on Jan. 31 but after Heitz’s
death and the additional charge, it was
rescheduled to Feb. 2.
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When I heard about her
death, it was just one of those
things where you always
think you're going o have
time to say something to
somebody. And I never was
able to do that,”
—NICOLE GARCIA,
former student of Moira Hughes
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