Family calling for changes to Butler Township road after young father dies in crash

BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A small memorial marks the spot where Damian Hall, 27, crashed his SUV and died on Oct. 26.

“Right here is where the glass is so this is where I’m assuming the car ended up,” said Damian’s aunt, Brandy Kight.

Kight believes her nephew’s death was preventable.

>>> Butler man killed in rollover crash

She doesn’t want to see anyone else lose a loved one in the same spot.

“It’s been very devastating,” Kight said. “The main thing we want to focus on is no other family going through this.”

Driving down New Castle Road, you pass a ‘no outlet’ sign at a four-way intersection with Greenwood Drive and Lions Road.

Then you crest a small hill and all you see is a guardrail and a small circle to loop around.

The turnaround sits above Route 422 but does not connect.

Kight does not understand why there’s not more signage indicating the sharp curve.

“What I want to see is, when you’re cruising along the highway and you’re coming up on a bend or a curve, there’s those little arrows that point you the whole way through the intersection and when you come up on a roundabout there’s signs that show there’s a roundabout coming up and making you aware of it,” Kight said.

There is one home that sits beyond the circle.

The homeowner requested crash data from the turnaround from Butler Township Police and shared it with Channel 11.

The report shows there have been six crashes in the same spot this year and 39 in the last 25 years.

“This is a dangerous area and it should be marked a little better,” Kight said.

As she and the rest of Damian’s family push for safety improvements, they want people to remember him as a kind person who loved his fiancée, his 6-year-old son, and his dog, Lou.

“Damian was a free spirit. His favorite motto to live by was, ‘PLUR,’ which is ‘Peace, love, unity, and respect.’ He loved to write music, he liked camping, living in nature, anything that had to do with the great outdoors and being free,” Kight said. “Damian was just a very loving, loving human being.”

Damian’s dog Lou was in the car with him when he crashed.

Lou has had one surgery and will need another but has already been taken in by a friend of Damian’s family.

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