Southmoreland grad killed in crash 'brought a different kind of energy to the room'

No matter who is talking about him, one thing is clear about Brandon Peterson — he knew how to brighten anyone’s day.

“As soon as he’d walk into a room, he put a smile on everyone’s face,” said Mason Neiderhiser, 16, of Mt. Pleasant. “He was such a good guy.”

Peterson, 18, of Scottdale, was killed when a tractor-trailer struck him and his disabled pickup truck Tuesday afternoon along the southbound lanes of Route 119 in East Huntingdon, according to police.

Dan Boring, athletic director at Southmoreland High School, coached Peterson in wrestling, one of four sports in which the 2020 graduate participated.

“He brought a different kind of energy to the room,” Boring said. “He was a great person to be around.”

Neiderhiser’s mother, Rachel, said Peterson always knew how to make others smile.

“I would see him at Walmart and he would walk right up to us and put his arm around you and ask how you were,” she said. “If the boys weren’t with us, he’d ask how they were.”

Colt Harper, 18, of Everson had known Peterson since they were in elementary school.

“He was just one of the greatest people you could be around,” Harper said. “He always had a smile on his face and he was always pushing me to be a better person.”

Harper said he never has seen someone touch a whole community the way Peterson did.

“He was my best friend,” Harper said. “He made me better. Now I have to live life in a better manner for him.”

Peterson’s mother, Sheila, posted a message to her son on his Facebook page Wednesday morning.

“My worst nightmare happened and nothing could hurt me as much as not seeing you come down the stairs and say, ‘Hi, Mom,’ ” she wrote.

Police said Peterson’s Dodge Ram 2500 became disabled about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. He stopped the truck on the right shoulder near the Route 819 interchange, where the crash occurred.

The highway was closed for about five hours. Police said the 31-year-old tractor-trailer driver, from North Carolina, was not injured.

There have been frequent crashes around the 119/819 intersection, along East Huntingdon’s eastern border, with 28 occurring in 2019, according to PennDOT statistics. More than 20 of those involved at least one injury.

Family, friends and classmates of Peterson’s headed to Southmoreland’s football stadium to create a shrine in his memory.

Visitation will be held from noon to 4 and 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Robert B. Ferguson Funeral Home, 105 Spring St., Scottdale. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at New Stanton United Methodist Church, 612 South Center Ave. A chapel committal service and entombment will follow at Middle Churches Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant Township.