The last thing Eskil “Scott” Danielson ever did was help save his daughter after a car crash.
On Saturday afternoon, Danielson — who is on the rescue squad for New Jersey’s Andover Borough — was called to the scene of car crash, Lehigh Valley Live reported.
The 35-year veteran of the Lakeland Ambulance Squad and a three-term councilman in the borough, Danielson, 49, had been dispatched to the scene because his 19-year-old daughter, Alycia , had been hurt. A dispatcher notified the worried father of the accident and he received a call from the scene of the accident at the same time, added the New Jersey Herald .
Few details about the crash or the injuries sustained by the victims were provided, but apparently, Alycia was one of two victims and the other was in a second car.
Danielson quickly responded to the scene and did his duty both as a father and an ambulance squad member. He treated both his own child and the occupant of the other vehicle, said Andover’s police chief and Scott’s brother, Eric Danielson.
https://www.facebook.com/WTPDNEWS/photos/pcb.10153941949920159/10153941949820159
Thankfully, Alycia suffered only minor injuries in the collision. The condition of the other victim was not specified. His daughter was afterward transported to Newton Medical Center and Scott arrived there to check on her shortly after.
And that’s when the story takes a tragic turn. After a car accident that could’ve been much worse, but which fortunately spared his daughter her life and serious injury, Danielson himself soon became the patient.
After treating his daughter’s injuries, the father and public servant reportedly complained of back pain and headed to the hospital via ambulance to be with his daughter. But as he waited in the waiting area at the hospital’s emergency room to see his child, Danielson suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed.
At 4:34, a mere hour after the initial call about his daughter’s car accident came in, Scott himself was treated and stabilized, then airlifted to another hospital. There, he was pronounced dead at 8:30 p.m. that night, said his father, Scott “Skip” Danielson.
Our thoughts & prayers go out to Warren County Communications Center Capt. Scott Danielson’s family,friends & WCCC pic.twitter.com/ySabNCMuqp
— Hackettstown Police (@HackettstownPD) January 17, 2016
Alycia has been released from the hospital.
Danielson leaves behind quite a legacy in the Andover community, which is grieving his tragic and sudden death. He leaves behind a wife of 25 years, Tammy, and two other children: Aaron, 28, who’s in the Air Force, and Amanda, 21. His parents survive him, as well. His father, Skip, was police chief at the nearby Byram Township; his brother, Kevin, is a firefighter; and his other brother is the police chief in Andover.
In the wake of his son’s death, the elder Scott was asked by the local paper if he wanted to say anything about him, and was only able to quietly utter: “I just can’t say enough.” His brother, Eric, was better able to articulate his feelings about Scott.
“There’s a phrase in a war movie that can sum up Scott and his life. There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer. That’s no doubt the truth.”
And Danielson was a respected public servant and volunteer in his community: a long-term councilman, member of the ambulance squad, and captain with the county’s public safety department. He was known for his love of sports and his family — taking them to Walt Disney World in Florida every year — but above all, friends and family remembered him as someone who always thought of the greater good instead of himself. His brother said he died doing what he loved.
“He was pursuing the biggest passion of his life in helping others, and unfortunately, succumbed to it.”
[Photo by B Calkins/Shutterstock]
