‘He had very big dreams’: Friends remember Johnson County crash victim from Irving
Family and friends of the 28-year-old Irving man who was killed in a “devastating” two-vehicle crash in Johnson County on Tuesday said he came to the United States from India to earn his master’s degree and had big plans for his life.
“He had very big dreams,” Rushil Barri’s friend Ayyappala Bandaru told KXAS-TV. “He always used to think about tomorrow. He used to be like ‘Man, we need to rule this world.’”
Barri was on a road trip with family members when a Chevrolet Silverado traveling south on U.S. 67 entered the northbound lane in a no passing zone and hit the family’s Honda Odyssey head on, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a press release. Barri, the driver, was killed along with five of the six passengers.
The family was returning from a trip to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Somervell County when the crash occurred, KXAS reported.
Lokesh Potabathula of Alpharetta, Georgia, was the only surviving passenger in the minivan. Lokesh was Barri’s cousin, according to Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV. He was airlifted to a Fort Worth hospital with critical injuries.
Lokesh’s wife Naveena Potabathula, 36, son Krithik, 10, and daughter Nishidha, 9, also died, as did Naveena’s parents, who were visiting from India — Nageswararao Ponnada, 64, and Sitamahalakshmi Ponnada, 60.
Ashok Kolla, a spokesperson for the Telugu Association of North America, confirmed the identities of the victims and said they are working with authorities to send all the bodies to India.
“Just in one family, they lost five members. It’s like … I don’t even know what to say on that,” Bandaru told WFAA.
Rushil Barri’s brother Rakesh Barri said the loss has been devastating for his family.
“It’s so hard to take,” Rakesh said in an interview with WFAA. “He’s my half. He’s my half.”
Rakesh told WFAA that his mother can’t grasp that Rushil is dead, and she’s praying for him to return.
According to KDFW-TV, Bandaru was planning to visit Fossil Rim with the family. They had dinner together and were all together in Barri’s apartment. The backpacks belonging to Krithik Potabathula and Nishidha Potabathula, the two children who were killed, are still there along with pictures they had just colored.
Bandaru told WFAA that Barri was looking forward to partying on New Year’s Day.
“’Let’s celebrate New Year and let’s get into this new year with new dreams and new hopes,’” Bandaru said Barri told him before the trip. “I’m like, ‘Yeah man, let’s do that. Come back soon.’”
