Nurse killed in hit-and-run accident was 'full of life,' family says

SALT LAKE CITY — For those who love Brynn Barton, who at 24-years-old was killed in a hit-and-run accident late Tuesday, there is a sense of what could have been.

"She had her whole life ahead of her," sister Erin Barton said.

"It's not going to be the same," added her brother, Jeffrey Barton.

But there is also the pride in what was, in what Barton was able to do during her young life. Her siblings stood arm-in-arm Wednesday as they talked about her service trips to India, Peru and Africa, her forays into skydiving and her love of karaoke.

"She just had plans," sister Emilee Shafizadeh said. "She was definitely our adventure gal."

Barton was headed south on a bicycle along 700 East when she was hit and killed around 10 p.m. near 800 South, Salt Lake police detective Mike Hamideh said.

Barton was in a group of bicyclists, but the others were far enough ahead of her that they "didn't even hear or see" Barton get hit, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Craig Gleason. Barton's friends were interviewed, but were only able to provide "garbled" information at the scene because Gleason said they were traumatized.

Barton was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, he said.

The investigation is in the earliest stages and very little information was available as to how the accident may have occurred. "(Detectives) are looking at evidence at the scene and comparing it to witness statements," Hamideh said.

The driver left the scene. Neighbors Melissa and Edvin Biogradlija rushed out of their home as soon as they heard a "big bang" and said other neighbors noted that whoever hit Barton hadn't even tried to stop.

"That, for me, is not human," Edvin Biogradlija said. "I don't know who can do that."

Erin Barton said she feels sorry for the driver, whoever it may be. "He has to live with that every day," she said. "You have those hard feelings, but you just have to put them aside and just forgive, I guess."

But Shafizadeh struggles with the fact that whoever hit her sister left her lying in the road. "The hardest part is to leave her there," she said.

The siblings all said their sister Brynn was "full of life."

"Definitely," Erin Barton added. "And she loved her family, so it's just going to be a hard one to get over."

This was echoed by brother-in-law David Gatti.