Mother speaks out after suspect in son’s hit and run death faces reduced charge

OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY)- It’s been a little over two years since Aaron Quebedeaux was killed in a hit and run crash.

Now that the suspect’s final trial date is just days away, the teen’s mother is speaking out.
News 10 spoke to her in an exclusive interview.
Aaron was only 17 years old when he died in the hit and run crash, which happened across the street from his brother’s house. His brother was the one who found him.

“My phone started ringing and it was his brother Blake. And I answered the phone and I just, I didn’t even say ‘Hello, Blake.’ I just said, ‘Is he dead?’ And he said ‘I don’t know.’ He said ‘He was involved in a wreck. It’s his truck.'”

That was August 12th, 2017. A day Laurie Quebedeaux will never forget.

Through the original investigation by State Police, it was believed Aaron was involved in a single-vehicle crash, but as they continued their investigation, it was determined to have involved a second vehicle.

According to officials, Brittany Coupel, who was 22 at the time, came forward after the crash and informed troopers that she was driving the vehicle that collided with Aaron’s.

Investigators say she also admitted to fleeing the scene after the crash.
She was originally arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, hit and run driving, and vehicular homicide.
But the only charge she’ll be facing during her last trial date next week is hit and run driving.

“You know, I don’t want the girl to spend the rest of her life in prison, I don’t want her to do 20 years or 10 years,” she said. “But I would feel terrible letting her get away with nothing because I don’t think she would learn her lesson and I have a fear that she would do it again. And I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through. It is horrible.”

Quebedeaux says losing a son is hard enough– something she says she’ll never get over but instead will only learn to just live with.

However, adding the pain of going through a trial makes it that much harder, she said. She says no matter what the outcome, she’ll be glad when it’s over, so she can properly mourn her son’s death.

That last trial date will be next Tuesday, October 1st.