Two people died in a one-vehicle crash on July 25, 2026, along Beacon Road in Penn Township. Submitted Photo

Neighbors said they heard a short screech, then what sounded like an explosion on Saturday, July 25, as a car crashed into a tree on Beacon Road, leaving two people dead.

“I really thought somebody was shooting tannerite or a house exploded,” said Paula Grubbs, a Penn Township resident who lives two properties down from where the crash occurred.

She and her family were in her backyard about one-eighth of a mile away when they heard the crash that killed T.V. Garrett Griffin, 45, of Cranberry Township, and Cody Lee Huffman, 38, of Harmony.

Police said Griffin succumbed to his injuries after the crash at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Witnesses said the two were at Butler Country Club before the crash. Penn Township police have not released a crash report.

“It was just the loudest explosion you ever heard and we could feel it,” Grubbs said.

Grubbs said she and her nephew ran to the scene with other neighbors and found the white SUV had crashed into a large oak tree. Grubbs said she saw smoke coming from the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

“All the neighbors heard it,” Grubbs said. “Everybody went running.”

When they got to the scene, Grubbs was told to run back for a fire blanket, and another neighbor brought a fire extinguisher. The neighbor used the extinguisher to smash a window so they could access the two men in the vehicle.

Grubbs said her neighbor also used the extinguisher on small fires as they ignited.

The passenger of the vehicle was partially outside the passenger window when emergency services arrived. Grubbs said she wasn’t sure if the man had been partially ejected from the vehicle or had begun getting out himself.

“They did work very hard trying to get the passenger out of there,” Grubbs said of the first responders.

She’s noticed while living there that Beacon Road is often used as a shortcut between Butler and Cranberry Township. She recalled a different crash on the road last year.

“It’s a pretty straight road except for that one bend,” Grubbs said.

Griffin had worked for PepsiCo since 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile.

“What I have enjoyed the most over the course of my career are the rapidly changing trends within the industry and trying to stay ahead of them to deliver what consumers are looking for ... in addition to the great people I have met along the way,” Griffin wrote on his profile.

Griffin started with the company as a retail sales leader in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. He progressed through the roles of account manager and senior account manager, then was the director of sales in different areas of the country.

After being promoted to senior director of sales in 2021, he took the senior market director position in 2024. Before PepsiCo, he worked for Advantage Sales and Marketing, a business consulting company, after graduating from High Point University in 2003.

“When starting my career search, I never would have imagined being in the food and beverage industry, let alone for my entire career,” Griffin’s LinkedIn said.

Both Griffin and Huffman had families with young children.

“The whole neighborhood’s hearts go out to the families of those two gentlemen,” Grubbs said.

Information on Huffman was not immediately available. PepsiCo did not return a request for comment.

A car hit a tree on Beacon Road Saturday evening, July 25, on Beacon Road in Penn Township. Submitted photo