Memorial Fundraiser For Joel Drawbaugh Established

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — The co-workers of the Harford County man who died this week when his Infiniti collided with a charter bus have organized an online fundraising campaign to help his family pay for funeral expenses. A goal of $10,000 was set, and within hours the GoFundMe page had raised more than $600.

Joel William Drawbaugh, 19, of Havre de Grace, was killed in a crash Wednesday morning in north Baltimore County off Falls Road.

Drawbaugh was driving south on Falls Road when his black Infiniti G37x ran into a bus that had gotten stuck making a turn at the intersection, police reported. Crews spent more than 30 minutes rescuing him from the vehicle and he was pronounced deceased at the scene after going into trauma arrest, authorities said.

A fundraising page was created Thursday to assist the Drawbaugh family with funeral expenses and related costs.

"At American Sentry Solar we are a family and yesterday, we lost one of our own," the Bel Air-based business, which also has an office on Route 40 in Havrede Grace, posted on its Facebook page on Thursday. "Joel was a hard worker and a joy to work with, he will be deeply missed. Any contributions to help his family deal with this sudden loss are greatly appreciated."

Visit the Joel Drawbaugh Memorial Fund page.

"A lover of cars and all things fun, Joel was happiest when he was making everyone around him laugh. He was fiercely smart and a reservoir of obscure and useless facts that he liked to share whenever possible," wrote Taren Calloway, organizer of the campaign, on the GoFundMe page. "Joel was a bright light in everyone's lives that he encountered, and he was taken too soon."

The page was started as a place for people to leave memories and support the Drawbaugh family.

Relatives of Drawbaugh learned that in his final moments, he had a good Samaritan by his side. According to WJZ, a man who had been on his way to work was one of the first to see the crash and stop, and he talked to Drawbaugh, telling him three comforting things he knew he would want to hear: "'Help is on the way,' 'You're going to be OK,' and 'We'll get you out of here.'"

RELATED: Havre de Grace Driver Killed In Crash With Charter Bus

Photo of Joel Drawbaugh courtesy of Patch partner GoFundMe.