Stufflebeam

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — State police suspect a Slippery Rock University student ran a stop sign early Saturday morning when she collided broadside with a tractor-trailer, killing another SRU student in her sport utility vehicle.

The crash about 2:35 a.m. happened at Route 8 and Branchton Road — an intersection not unfamiliar to deadly crashes.

Killed in the weekend collision was 21-year-old John Tyler Stufflebeam, 21, of Warren, Pa., who was not wearing a seat belt.

Stufflebeam was a right rear passenger in a 2001 Ford Escape driven by Hollie Carlson, 20, of Markleton, Somerset County. He was thrown out the back window.

Butler County Deputy Coroner Dennis Trzeciak pronounced Stufflebeam dead at the scene. An autopsy ruled he died of severe head injuries.

An avid hunter, runner and Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Stufflebeam was a senior at SRU and as vice president of the Green and White Society for student ambassadors.

Among his extracurricular activities, he was a volunteer with the Kids in Action program that offers therapy for young children with autism.

Carlson was taken to Grove City Medical Center with minor injuries.

Four other passengers in the SUV — all SRU students — were not injured, police said; none wore seat belts.

Those passengers were Kyle Kosa, 21, of New Jersey; Michael Evangelista, 21, of Carnegie, Allegheny County; Brandon Maharaj, 21, of Indiana, Pa.; and Sarah Ecker, 20, of Youngsville, Warren County.

Michael Minium, 44, of Clarion, the driver of the 2003 Peterbilt semi-tractor with a flat-bed trailer, was not hurt.

Police said Carlson was traveling west on Branchton Road and drove into the intersection at Route 8, hitting the side of the rig that was traveling north on Route 8.

Carlson, according to a police report, “proceeded through the intersection which has properly marked stops signs and flashing red lights without clearance.”

The collision spun the SUV clockwise, causing its back end to hit the trailer and ejecting Stufflebeam, police said.

The crash remains under investigation, police said.

The Route 8 and Branchton Road intersection was the site of one of the worst crashes in Butler County.

In that collision on July 7, 2003, all five members of a North Carolina family here visiting relatives were killed when a Utah trucker ran a stop sign and slammed into their car, which burst into flames.

The tractor-trailer was eastbound on Branchton Road and the car was northbound on Route 8.

Following that deadly crash eight years ago and after public outcry, the state Department of Transportation implemented safety improvements at the intersection.

Before, the intersection only had stop signs on Branchton Road approaching Route 8.

But in 2004, a flashing light was installed at the intersection, stopping traffic on Branchton with a blinking red light and slowing traffic on Route 8 with a blinking yellow light.