Family of ‘hero’ truck driver launches fundraiser for educational billboards

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    Omaha, NE (KETV) — A driver’s heroic actions cost him his life.

Now his family is on a mission to save others just like he did.

Brennan died in a crash in October.

Police said he swerved when a car turned in front of his truck on Highway 370

“This Christmas, first Christmases, first holidays, those are the hardest,” said Diane Burford, Brennan’s sister. “And Kate is struggling.”

Brennan’s truck barely hit the car that turned in front of him, she said.

But the concrete truck rolled and crushed him.

Numb. Just absolutely numb. Couldn’t believe it happened,” Burford said.
Burford said the pain is unbearable, but she knows her brother is a hero because that truck was hauling several thousand pounds of mix

“He had the right of way and if he would have gone straight, he would have gone right over them,” Burford said. “My brother saved the lives of two people.”

They’re turning the tragedy into a legacy by launching a GoFundMe campaign to buy public service announcement billboards.

“I don’t ever want to see a tragedy like this happen to anybody else. It’s so senseless, it could have been avoided,” Burford said.

She contacted her cousin, Trish Haniszewski, to help.

“A $5,000 campaign would get us six to eight months on billboards with what they call a PSA,” Haniszewski said.

“Ten thousand dollars would do two options: Either eight to twelve months and they pick the location of the billboards, or we pick and they’re up for three to four months.”

“It’s for Greg but it’s also for those other truck drivers that want to go home,” she said.

“We’re gonna make this happen we just need help from, not only the friends and family, but the public,” Haniszewski said.

In an interview with KETV NewsWatch 7’s Sarah Fili after the crash, Brennan’s daughter Kate had strong words: “they want to go home too.”

So, using Greg’s favorite color, the family based a design off that message.

“If this could be avoided, if another life could be saved that’s our main goal. We want to put it out there just so that people can understand drive safe around big trucks. They’re not the enemy,” Burford said.

The campaign is especially meaningful, as Kate lost her mom 2 years ago to cancer.

Now, she’s spending her first Christmas alone.

“It’s his only daughter, she doesn’t have a mother anymore either, and she’s 20,” Burford said.

“Just slow down. These big truck drivers can’t stop quickly and they want to go home to their families too.”

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