SAN DIEGO -- Friends and family members gathered Friday at a funeral service for a young boy killed in a boat crash during last month's Parade of Lights on San Diego Bay.

Eight-year-old Anthony Deweese died and 12 others were hurt when a U.S. Coast Guard boat collided with the pleasure boat they were on during the festivities.

On Friday, a sea of red colored the parking lot of Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church as throngs of supporters, family and friends remembered a vibrant boy who loved to play hockey.

"It was just a color he liked, and the family asked everyone to wear red," said Mike Neil, the attorney representing the Deweese family.

Neil told 10News, "He (father Alan Deweese) managed to give a hard starboard right-hand turn and give full throttle so when the Coast Guard boat hit him, it hit him at a slight angle so it did not go all the way down the middle of the boat."

Neil also said the family's lights were turned on that night and believed the 21-year-old driver of the Coast Guard boat was going too fast. In Neil's mind, there is no question who is at fault.

"It's a failure of supervision and leadership in my opinion," said Neil.

Neil believed there will be a civil lawsuit filed, but if and how it would be settled is another question entirely.

The National Transportation Safety Board has interviewed two of the 5 Coast Guard members who were on the boat that evening, but three of them have pleaded the Fifth and declined to speak.