Colorado Paramedic Responds to Crash that Killed Medic Husband
In a tragic twist, Brian Gould's wife was called to respond after he crashed on his way home from work.
A tragic accident Thursday on U.S. Highway 287 took the life of one of Fort Collins' top paramedics.
Brian J. Gould, 42, a veteran paramedic who helped save many local lives over the years, was killed when his Dodge Ram pickup veered out of his lane and hit a semitrailer head on.
Gould was headed to his home in Livermore after finishing a night shift at Poudre Valley Hospital's east-side ambulance station. The accident happened around 6:40 a.m., roughly five miles south of Owl Canyon and four miles north of the Ted's Place junction.
Gould, headed north, veered into the lane of the southbound semi. The semi attempted to swerve, but the vehicles hit head-on, said Colorado State Patrol Trooper Cpl. Wayne Nichols. Gould died at the scene, he said.
In a tragic twist, Gould's wife, Jennifer Stackler-Gould - who also is a paramedic with the hospital - accidentally became one of the first responders at the scene, which law enforcement officers described as unusually graphic.
Ambulance dispatchers did not know the accident involved Stackler-Gould's husband when they sent her out, hospital spokesman Gary Kimsey said.
Stackler-Gould declined to be interviewed.
Kimsey said the Goulds were married for 10 years. They did not have children together, but Stackler-Gould has an adult daughter who no longer lives at home.
The semi driver, Timothy Beardslee, 42, of O'Fallon, Mo., escaped with no apparent injuries but was taken to PVH to be checked, Nichols said.
It is not known what caused Gould to veer out of his lane, but police are considering the possibility he fell asleep.
"It's suspected, but it's still too early to determine. Whether he fell asleep or was reaching for something is unknown," Nichols said.
Gould, an 18-year veteran of PVH, was described by colleagues as a humble, good-natured paramedic who took on a mentoring and leadership role in his department.
"He was just a phenomenal paramedic. It's a big loss for the community. You can't replace a medic with that much experience," said Gould's supervisor, Herb Brady.
Colleagues said Gould was of the old school of paramedics who learned their trade before the latest technologies came about, giving them a more diverse range of tools, such as intuition and practical experience, to diagnose patients.
"He could just look at a patient and know that they were sick and what was wrong with them. You don't get that in school," Brady said.
But Gould also kept up on the latest technologies and became a key person in maintaining PVH's ambulance radio and computer systems, Kimsey said.
"Over the years, he's helped save so many lives in our community, but his knowledge and skills went beyond that. He stayed at the forefront of the technological aspect of it, too," Kimsey said.
Gould also served as the volunteer assistant chief at the Glacierview Fire District.
The accident forced police to shut down a stretch of U.S. 287 for more than four hours Thursday.
They diverted southbound traffic through Owl Canyon, while those headed north had to turn around or wait it out, Nichols said.
