An IUP student who worked for State Senator-elect Joe Pittman died Friday in a single-vehicle accident in East Franklin Township, Armstrong County. 21-year-old Brian Henry Swatt’s body was found in his overturned car, 150 yards over an embankment at the intersection of Route 268 and Butler Road. The crash went unnoticed for 24 hours, according to the Armstrong County Coroner’s office. Swatt was not wearing a seatbelt when his car went through a stop sign and over the embankment.
Swatt was originally reported as a missing person on Friday. He had last been seen at about 2 AM at a location at Baker Gas Drive in West Franklin Township. He was found when a state trooper followed the trail of tire marks in the grass and broken tree limbs to find the car.
Pittman will be sworn in in Harrisburg tomorrow afternoon. In a statement, he said Swatt was an outstanding member of his team and a close friend who had worked side-by-side with him on his campaign and had just been hired to work in his district office four days earlier.
Swatt was a Lackawanna County native and a junior political science major at IUP. He was a two-time president of IUP’s Student Government Association and a former student member of the State System Board of Governors. IUP president Michael Driscoll, State System Board of Governors Chairperson Cynthia Shapiro, Representative Jim Struzzi, and Governor Tom Wolf all issued condolences to his family.
