Friends remember Santa Maria man killed in high profile 2007 car crash
Friends came out on Monday to remember Brandon Harper, a Righetti graduate killed in a high-profile drunk driving accident 11 years ago.
At the corner of Betteravia Rd. and Broadway, members of the Brandon Harper Foundation gathered for a special ceremony to commemorate what would have been Harper’s 38th birthday.
“We just wanted to give people an opportunity to say happy birthday and remember and celebrate him,” said Foundation president Katina Gleason. “We memorialize him in other ways on the anniversary and his birthday. This is the first year in 10 years that we’ve come out here.”
Monday’s birthday celebration took place at the busy Santa Maria intersection where Harper was hit by a drunk driver while he was driving to a nearby restaurant.
The 2007 crash was widely publicized in the media. Harper was hit by a driver was traveling well above the speed limit while evading a pursuit with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
At the intersection, a memorial bench featuring a special plaque was created in his honor.
With silver and black balloons, representing Harper’s beloved Oakland Raiders, Friends gathered around the bench and released them into the overcast sky after singing happy birthday.
“He was an amazing human being,” said Gleason. “He was the glue for the group for a lot of us. He treated everybody well and he was amazing and vibrant. He was always taking care of us as friends.”
To keep Harper’s memory alive, several of his friends created the Brandon Harper Foundation, with a goal to assist students in the Santa Maria area. Last year, it awarded its first college scholarship to a graduating senior from Righetti High School.
“We’re not looking for a traditional college scholarship awardee,” Gleason said. “We have a ton of applicants with amazing GPA’s and we encourage them to apply as well, but we’re actually looking for the average high school senior. We want a kid who maybe didn’t take it seriously the first couple of years and then really buckled down and decided I want to go to college, I want to make a difference. We want to have good moral character. We want them to a quality person.”
To help fund this year’s scholarship, the Foundation will hold a major fundraiser with a BBQ, silent auction and raffle on Saturday, March 24 at the Orcutt Lion’s Club.
The Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2018 scholarship that will awarded on May 4. The deadline for the application is April 14.
For information on the Brandon Harper Foundation, it’s upcoming fundraiser or scholarship, visit www.brandonharper.org
