By Michael Gryboski, Editor Thursday, September 18, 2025

An Ohio pastor is facing charges of vehicular homicide and child endangerment following a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a minor who was a member of his church.

Rushon Trevl Patterson II, a pastor with Alive Now Church of Canton, was arrested last Friday on the charges and was arraigned Monday morning, reported the Cleveland-based WOIO News.

According to court records, Patterson was driving a church van earlier this month and allowed at least one teenager to hang off the side of the automobile, with one witness telling authorities that multiple teens were doing so.

Patterson then hit a pothole while he was operating the van, which caused one teenager to fly off the vehicle and be seriously injured in the fall, later dying from the accident.

The victim was later identified as 14-year-old Malachi I. Nichols-Williams, the Canton Repository reported Monday, with the accident occurring about a block away from where he lived.

"Malachi did not jump off in time and was thrown from the vehicle, striking his head on the roadway," according to the Canton police crash report, as quoted by the Repository.

Alive Now was founded by Pastor Joann Macksyn, along with the children’s ministry group Alive Now Kidz, the latter of which was launched in 2021.

“Our mission is to reach out to high-risk children (Kidz) with the message of the Gospel, to lead them into their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to the best of our ability, meet whatever spiritual, practical and emotional needs that arise with food, clothing, and our sponsorship program,” reads ANK’s website.

“Alive Now Kidz has the vision of expanding and reaching out to the unreached children in America and other parts of the world. There is no child that is hopeless, they just need HOPE!”

Last year, the Repository reported that Macksyn’s Alive Now Services, which was a home care business centered on looking after adults with developmental disabilities, had its certification revoked by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities amid accusations of verbal abuse and neglect.

For her part, Macksyn argued that ANS should have maintained its certification, telling officials that she had fixed or was in the process of fixing the various issues with the business.