Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tyson Brummett was among four people killed in a plane crash in Utah, authorities said Friday. Brummett, 35, was piloting a small plane from South Valley Regional Airport in West Jordan, Utah, when it crashed near the Box Elder Peak in American Fork Canyon, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
“A man and two of his sons were hiking when they saw the plane begin to turn, then spiral downward,” the sheriff’s office said. “The witness said the plane spiraled out of his view and moments later he heard the impact.”
The witness called 911 and then climbed down to the plane where he saw the wreckage and victims, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities responded to the scene in a helicopter and “verified that there were four occupants on board the plane and all four appeared to have died on impact.”
In addition to Brummett, authorities identified the other victims as Alex Blackhurst Ruegner, 35, Elaine W. Blackhurst, 60, and her husband, Douglas Robinson Blackhurst. The Blackhursts were the aunt and uncle of Ruegner, authorities said.
The Phillies reacted to the news with a message expressing “heartfelt condolences.”
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 4, 2020
“The Phillies organization sends heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of former pitcher Tyson Brummett, along with three members of the Ruegnar and Blackhurst families, who tragically passed away in a plane crash yesterday morning,” the Philadelphia Phillies tweeted on Saturday.
CBS Philadelphia reports Brummett was a 5th round draft pick in 2007 and he played in one game with the Phillies in 2012.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
