Electronic Devices in Play in Deadly Pedestrian Crash Involving Cottleville, MO, Fire Captain

A Cottleville Fire Protection District captain was heading to a call about a deer stuck in a sewer grate when he hit and killed a 26-year-old woman crossing the road a year ago, according to a recently released police report.

The report, released last month under a public records request, offers new details on the incident that claimed the life of Stacy Youngers as she was walking across Dingledine Road at Stonecroft Drive around 6 p.m. last June 14.

St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Joe McCulloch's office declined to file charges against the fire captain, Brian Gettemeier, last December.

Gettemeier, 53, is a 30-year veteran firefighter who at the time of the incident had been a captain for three years. He was serving as acting battalion chief during his shift last June, overseeing on-duty fire crews that evening.

According to the investigation report released by St. Charles County Police, at the time of the crash Gettemeier was responding to a call about a deer trapped in a sewer grate, where a newly promoted captain already was on scene with his engine crew. He did not have the vehicle's emergency lights or sirens on.

On his way to the scene, the report states, Gettemeier turned left from eastbound Stonecroft onto northbound Dingledine. He told police in an interview five days after the crash that he checked both directions "several times" but did not see Youngers in the road when he struck her with the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck used as a command vehicle by the district.

Toxicology results from a blood draw after the crash found no indication Gettemeier was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, investigators said.

The report states that a witness driving another vehicle who saw the crash told police Gettemeier appeared to be "looking down, diverting his attention away from the roadway" as he turned left onto Dingledine. The witness said she was several car lengths behind the truck when it struck Youngers at "full speed" and she did not see it apply the brakes until after the woman was hit.

The witness' son, who was in the car with her, said it seemed like Gettemeier should have had time to see Youngers in the road and stop the truck, according to the report.

"He suspected that Gettemeier may have been distracted at the time of the traffic crash," the police report said the man, 17 at the time, told them.

Gettemeier, the report says, told investigators he was using three electronic devices at the time of the fatal crash, including the department's "battalion chief phone" via the vehicle's Bluetooth to speak with the captain at the scene of the injured deer, an iPad in the center console for visual directions and his personal phone for audio directions to the scene.

The district provided police with the "battalion chief phone" and consented to investigators analyzing its use at the time of the crash.

Gettemeier and his attorney, however, refused to provide his personal cellphone to investigators for a similar analysis.

The investigator noted that Gettemeier's lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, later provided the department with "phone records" related to Gettemeier's phone, though the report does not specify what those were.

Bruntrager did not respond to a question about whether Gettemeier was looking at his personal phone at the time of the crash. Gettemeier did not respond to a request for comment.

It is a felony in Missouri to hold and use a cellphone at the time of a fatal crash, but emergency vehicle operators are exempt from the law if they are using a device in the performance of their duties.

The witness described Gettemeier as going into "responder mode" after the accident, quickly getting out to check on Youngers until ambulance crews arrived. Youngers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Youngers was on her phone when she was hit. It was not a video call, the police report said.

Youngers, who worked for Mastercard in O'Fallon and was described by her roommate as "loved" by everyone who knew her, was out for a walk in her neighborhood that evening.

In September, Youngers' parents, Loren and Dixie Youngers of Kansas City, sued Gettemeier for wrongful death in St. Charles County Circuit Court.

Their lawyer, Morry Cole of Gray Ritter Graham, declined to comment this week.

In his response to the lawsuit, Gettemeier's lawyer wrote that Youngers' carelessness put her at fault and that she tried to cross Dingledine in a section with no crosswalk and "without keeping a careful lookout."

A lawyer for Gettemeier in the civil suit, Rachel Bates, did not respond to a request for comment.

Cottleville Fire Protection District Chief David Schmidt said the district's lawyer advised him not to comment. He declined to comment on whether the district issued any discipline against Gettemeier or whether he was required to undergo any additional training. He also declined to say whether the district or its insurer will cover Gettemeier's legal bills, or even confirm whether Gettemeier still works for the district.

The district noted Gettemeier's 30th year with the department on its Facebook page last October, several months after the crash.

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