The North County law enforcement community is heartbroken over the loss of one of its own.
Brett Ann Gregory, an Oceanside Police Department dispatcher, was killed in a fiery crash Saturday evening in Ocotillo Wells.
Her department is hurting, but members say her memory will live on through the lives of people she's helped over the last 13 years, including a co-worker whose life she saved.
“I'm not a person who normally eats healthy, so I'm a chicken tender and French fry guy, and a big soda,” co-worker Forrest Baxter explained. One day five years ago, Baxter ordered a salad in an effort to “be healthy, trying to do the right thang.”
The Marine veteran who’s now worked more than 20 years at the department said his decision to eat healthy that day would have cost him his life if it weren’t for Brett, who he called his angel and protector.
“I swallowed this cucumber then I stood up because I was choking. So I stood up and was trying to do Heimlich on the back of a chair,” Baxter said. Not having any luck, and fearing his time was running out, Baxter walked up to Brett and placed her hands around his waist. She understood the cue and began the Heimlich withal her strength.
“Everything that was in me came out except the cucumber,” Baxter recounted. “She said, ‘Is it up?’ I shook my head and she [squeezed] probably five or six more times and all of a sudden here comes this cucumber flying across the room.”
Local
It’s an easy story to laugh about now, but Baxter wasn’t laughing when he finally caught his breath.
“Most people don't have a hero. They have a make believe hero,” he said. “I have a real live person that is actually my hero who actually saved my life and now I have to say that hero is gone.”
OPD gave Brett an award for her life-saving action.
Brett was driving on State Route 78 near Borrego Springs Road when a truck drifted into her lane and hit her. Both cars caught on fire and both drivers were killed. Just three days prior, Brett had become a grandmother.
Baxter says the circumstances of the crash make him angry.
“Now you're thinking, ‘Why? Why couldn't he have been on his side of the road?’ because you can't figure it out you get angry,” he said.
Baxter said Brett was a fine dispatcher thanks to her kindness and passion.
“When you talk about passion, you talk about passion for the job and passion to be able to help someone. That's her,” he said.
Brett started working at the department’s front desk as a customer service officer before becoming a dispatcher in 2015. She comes from a family that's helped serve Oceanside for decades. Her dad is a retired Oceanside fireman.
