Tiara Wheeler, the only daughter of ex-NBA player Tyson Wheeler, died after a devastating dirt bike crash in southeastern Connecticut.
“Tiara’s energy was contagious. She was passionate about racial and social justice issues, and always put her family first,” her family wrote in her obituary.
Wheeler, 24, was a passenger on a dirt bike that ran a red light before colliding with an Audi that had been turning left on a green arrow in Groton, Connecticut, around 9:30 Monday night.
Wheeler was thrown into the car and pronounced dead at the scene.
The bike’s driver was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was in critical condition earlier this week, according to a hospital spokesperson.
The pair was among a group of dirt bikes and ATVs, some of whom had their lights off, that were driving recklessly and did not provide any aid to the victims, police said.
“What is most troubling is that someone who may have been traveling with them stopped for this crash, and rather than rendering aid to the critically injured parties, removed the dirt bike from the road,” Groton Police Chief Louis J. Fusaro told CT Insider.
Tyson Wheeler, who played for the Denver Nuggets in 1999, told the outlet that his daughter, who graduated in 2021 from Fairfield University, was “a real go-getter.”
The proud pop rattled off his late daughter’s glowing resume, which included studying abroad in Florence, Italy; serving as the treasurer for the school’s Black Student Union, and receiving an award for being the most promising public health graduate.
Wheeler, who began working at the Orthodontic Associates of Southeastern Connecticut in 2017 and rose to a treatment coordinator position, was set to join Pfizer in the winter, her father said.
“She was so bright. So articulate,” Wheeler, now an assistant men’s basketball coach at Brown University, told CT Insider. “So wonderful. So smart.”
In her obituary, Wheeler’s family remembered her as being “passionate about life” and having a love for food and fashion, but also helping marginalized communities through public health projects
“She was a beautiful person, one who loved shopping, Hermes bracelets, and looking her best, but she also cared about people,” her family wrote.
Wheeler is survived by her father and mother, Farrah, and two brothers, Tyson, 18, and Tevin, 13.
