SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A memorial honoring Steve Krueger, the UPS driver killed when a plane crashed into a Santee neighborhood in 2021, may be months away from becoming a reality.
Jeff Krueger, Steve's brother, says the recent Murphy Canyon plane crash that killed six people brought back painful memories of his own loss.
“It really hits you. It’s sad. For lack of a better word, it's sad," Krueger said.
The news of the Murphy Canyon crash hit him particularly hard, reminding him of how his brother's life was suddenly taken.
"All of a sudden, their lives are taken from them," he said.
Steve Krueger died in October 2021 when a twin-engine Cessna crashed into his UPS truck and two homes in Santee. A year after the tragedy, friends and family built a giant sandcastle in Steve's honor at Ocean Beach, where he was a resident.
"Heartwarming, shows there's a lot more good people than bad, and you can see it through my brother," Krueger said.
During that memorial event, ABC 10News learned that friends of Steve were finalizing plans for a permanent memorial bench.
The chosen site for the memorial is near the Robb Field Skateboard Park, next to a bike path overlooking the water—a fitting tribute to Steve, who was an avid water skier.
"So was it determined that the bike path itself is a different entity owned by a different entity than the greenscrape area," Krueger said.
Krueger explained that sorting out the boundaries between city and state property was one of several reasons the project was delayed. He received approval for the concept more than a year ago.
The memorial will consist of three boulders, with the one of them cut flat to serve as a bench. One of the other boulders will feature a plaque.
"I can see Steve, like on a Saturday, Sunday morning, going for a walk and then stopping by and sitting down there with a cup of coffee, just kind of looking out over the channel. This makes perfect sense,” Krueger said.
The memorial will cost between $7,500 and $10,000, funded by Steve's family and a GoFundMe campaign started by his friends.
Jeff says the permits have been approved and he recently submitted the final documents. He hopes the memorial will be in place by October, when family and friends gather for the five-year anniversary of the plane crash.
"Yeah, it's very comforting, just to know that people thought enough of your brother to want to do this, and he'll always be remembered," Jeff said.
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