Facing crash, Vancouver man sacrifices self to save pregnant wife

Vancouver, Canada, Sep 19, 2010 / 15:06 pm

Brian Wood, a 33-year-old resident of Vancouver, B.C., was killed in an auto collision on September 3, when the driver of an oncoming SUV lost control of the vehicle and crossed the road into his lane. His wife, Erin Wood, said that Brian acted just in time to save her, and their unborn child expected to be born in November, by sacrificing himself.

Evidence from the crash, which also killed two passengers in the other vehicle's back seat, supported Ms. Wood's description of her late husband's final act: unable to avoid the errant SUV, Brian Wood slammed the brakes and swerved his side of the car toward the oncoming vehicle, ensuring his certain death but protecting his wife, pregnant with their first child.

“I think it's pretty obvious … that if it would have been a head-on crash, we both would have been killed instantly, along with our baby,” Erin Wood told NBC's Today Show on September 13. “He definitely saved us. He made that choice, and I'm thankful for that.”

Brian Wood, a video game developer, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Police suspect that the driver of the other vehicle lost control due to distraction, as well as possible impairment from a variety of illegal drugs which were found in the car.

Erin Wood told the Today Show that the final sacrifice made by her husband of five years was in keeping with the way he had lived, “It's not a surprise at all. He was very excited for this baby, and always … incredibly loving towards me, and putting me first.”

His final act of love, she said “breaks my heart, and it also fills me with gratefulness.” Ms. Wood received only a black eye and a relatively minor blow to her head. The unborn child, a boy, was not harmed.

Wood said that although it was impossible to “cope well” with a situation such as hers, she was drawing consolation from recalling that she was alive because of her husband's decision to save her life and the life of their child.

“I'm just trying to draw a lot of strength right now from knowing that he made that choice to save me and the baby, and so I can't waste that gift,” she explained. “I'm just trying to focus on what I need to do right now … and just do my job as a mom.” She said that in spite of the tragedy, she is anticipating “the joy that we'll have once this baby is born.”

A fund, the Brian Woof Memorial Trust, has been established to assist Erin Wood and her child, at www.brianwoodmemorialtrust.com.