By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
It’s been almost a year since Linda Gauthier, of Gorham, was killed in a head-on collision on Route 16 in Pinkham’s Grant with the truck operated by Errol Fire Chief Bradley Eldridge, and her family is still in the dark about what happened.
Linda Gauthier’s husband, Richard Gauthier, who himself suffered debilitating injuries in the crash, is now going to court to force the New Hampshire State Police to release an unreacted copy of the investigative report into the crash.
According to the petition filed in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord, State Police are withholding important details surrounding the crash by only handing over a redacted report. The questions left unanswered include why Eldridge, then suffering from a terminal illness, had fentanyl and oxycodone in his system, and who in Errol town government knew about his condition.
“How can it possibly be contrary to the public interest to determine who knew or should have known that a town’s fire chief should not have been driving around in a town-issued fire truck because of the danger he posed to other motorists? What about Linda and Richard’s interests – don’t they matter?” Attorney Neil Nicholson wrote in the petition.
Eldridge died a few weeks later from an unspecified illness unrelated to the crash, according to court records.
Nicholson, who is representing Richard Gauthier, did not respond to requests for comment. Tyler Dumont, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, told InDepthNH.org the department is prevented by state law from releasing potentially sensitive information.
“The release of certain information in accident reports is strictly governed by the provisions of New Hampshire’s Driver Privacy Protection Act. As a result, the Department of Safety is limited in what it can provide by law, particularly when it comes to personal and sensitive information,” Dumont said in an email.
However, Dumont said the department is currently working on a possible resolution with Nicholson and Richard Gauthier.
“At this point, the Department has agreed with the Plaintiff’s counsel to extend the response deadline to December 13, 2024, which will allow the Department to finalize its response and, if possible, resolve this matter without the need for further hearings,” Dumont said.
The accident took place on Dec. 17, 2023, in Pinkham’s Grant, more than an hour’s drive away from Errol, according to portions of the State Police report filed in court as part of the petition. Eldridge was driving back to Errol in a town-owned 2017 Chevrolet pickup truck when he crossed the centerline on Route 16 and crashed into the front of the Gauthier’s 2011 Chevrolet 1500 pickup.
Richard Gauthier was driving his truck, and Linda Gauthier was in the passenger seat. Linda Gauthier died from her injuries at the accident scene.
Two members of the Errol Fire Department told State Police that Eldridge took the truck that morning to pick up beef for the Errol food bank. He drove two hours away to Freedom to pick up meat, and then drove to Tamworth to visit a relative, the witnesses said. Tamworth is about a 25 minute drive from Freedom, and about an hour’s drive from Pinkham’s Grant.
During the accident investigation, police learned that Eldridge had fentanyl and oxycodone in his system thanks to a blood sample taken soon after the crash. But the investigators could not determine how the drugs got there. The EMTs who responded to the crash did not administer the drugs, and investigators could not find out if Eldridge had been given any pain medication at the hospital before he gave the blood sample, according to the report.
State Police Sgt. Brian Ross spoke to Eldridge about two hours after the crash as the fire chief was getting treatment at Memorial Hospital in Conway. During that interview, Ross learned Eldridge suffered from a serious medical condition, but specific details about the condition and his treatments are blacked out in the report sent to Richard Gauthier.
Two Errol firefighters, Deputy Chief Tom Freeman and Lt. Matt Young, were in the room when Eldridge talked to Ross, and they appeared to know about his medical condition.
It was also during that interview that Eldridge refused to consent to a search of his cell phone in order for Ross to rule out any distracted driving as a factor in the crash, according to the report.
“I asked Eldridge if he would consent to State Police searching his phone to rule it out as a contributing factor to the crash. I was having trouble understanding Eldridge’s answer so I asked Eldridge to give me a thumbs up if he consents to State Police searching his cell phone, and a thumb down if he did not consent to State Police searching his cell phone; Eldridge quickly gave a thumbs down,” Ross wrote in his report.
Ross later tracked down Cheryl Sandoe, the woman described as Eldridge’s nurse and caretaker. Sandoe’s answers about Eldridge’s illness are all blacked out.
The details about the illness and treatment matter, Nicholson wrote in the petition, as they could point to who else in Errol’s government were aware of Eldridge’s condition before he got into the truck. The Department of Safety’s redactions are essentially protecting the town from any possible liability.
“Thus, the Department of Safety concluded in this matter that it’s more important to shield a deceased person (Eldridge) and others who know or may know about: (1) Eldridge’s use of oxycodone and fentanyl prior to the accident; (2) Eldridge’s level of fatigue from treatment for a terminal illness; (3) the cause of Eldridge’s fatigue from administered medications; and, (4) Eldridge’s activities prior to the accident that may have contributed to his killing Linda and maiming Richard, than release the information only it possesses to those harmed the most,” Nicholson wrote.
Errol Select Board Chair Scott Rineer did not respond to a request for comment.
Eldridge joined the Errol Fire and Rescue Department in 2017 and became chief in 2020. But he had a checkered past when he started.
Eldridge had been fired as the West Ossipee fire chief in March of 2011 “for cause,” according to the Carroll County Independent. In May of 2012, Eldridge pleaded guilty in Maine to setting fire to the barn of a romantic rival, according to the Sun Journal.
Eldridge reportedly told police he had been drinking heavily on Christmas Eve of 2011 when he decided to start the fire at the man’s barn. The victim, William Day, was then dating Eldridge’s ex-wife.
“Eldridge had made threats that he would ‘make Mr. Day suffer,’” the Sun Journal reported.
Day was not home at the time, and no one was injured in the fire. Eldridge ended up sentenced to three years in prison, with all but 90 days suspended.
