Butler County

‘I just hope it was fast’: Brother of student killed in I-79 bus crash remembers her

MUDDY CREEK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The brother of a student killed in a school bus crash on I-79 near the Route 422 interchange Tuesday in Butler County said he knew right away she had been killed.

At just 14, Brylee Walker was full of life. A freshman at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, music was her passion.

“She played guitar she was real good at guitar. I think she got her guitar when she was 11 or 12. She got it as a Christmas gift from our grandpa,” said Jordan Walker.

Jordan is Brylee’s older brother. He told Channel 11 she made the world a better place with the brightest smile.

>>>READ MORE: 14-year-old student, school bus driver killed in crash on I-79

“She’d see a homeless person and say, ‘Hey dad give him money,’ things like that. She would always try to help,” Walker said.

It’s hard to put into words the love Jordan had for his little sister. Her school bus from Lincoln Park was traveling north on I-79 towards her hometown of Hermitage when it crashed on Tuesday.

“Sylvia got a text saying the bus got into an accident and the driver was dead. Right then and there I knew that Brylee was gone. Because Brylee sat right behind the bus driver, she never switched her seat. She never wanted to be in the back,” Walker said.

The coroner said both she and the bus driver died on impact.

“She was never bad, just a good kid and it just shows no matter what you do in life you die,” Walker said.

Less than 24 hours later, tears rolled down Jordan’s face as he remembered his little sister and wants to know the answer to an impossible question. Why her?

“I just hope it was fast, that’s the one thing that kept playing in my head is her perspective of it if she was still alive. What is happening, all these other people are getting out what if she’s wondering who’s going to help me, it just hurts,” Walker said.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but Brylee’s classmates have started a GoFundMe account to help all the families involved in the accident. Students created a GoFundMe to help the Walker family offset some of the funeral costs. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS.

As for the school, it will continue to have grief counselors on campus to help the staff and students.

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