Key Pen Park’s director dies chasing man he thought was a burglar into the woods
The executive director of Key Pen Parks died Thursday while chasing a man he believed to be a burglar through a wooded area in Lakebay.
Autopsy results are pending on Scott Gallacher, 49, but authorities say he likely died of a heart attack.
“This was an unfortunate set of events and terrible circumstances,” said Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
It started about 10:15 a.m. when an employee at a parks facility called Gallacher to say they believed somebody was trying to break into the snack shack.
The employee then hung up and called 911.
Gallacher went to the facility.
“He thought it was a burglary,” Troyer said.
A passerby called 911 shortly after the alleged break-in to report an SUV stopped in the middle of Key Peninsula Highway NW.
The caller told dispatchers the truck’s driver, later identified as Gallacher, waved her down and asked her to call 911 before running into the woods after a man on a bicycle.
Deputies searched the woods and found Gallacher unresponsive.
Although first responders performed CPR and other life-saving measures, Gallacher was pronounced dead at the scene.
The 35-year-old man Gallacher chased into the woods waited at the scene and was cooperative, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Turns out he wasn’t trying to break into the building and the incident was a misunderstanding.
“He said he knocked on the door and rattled the doorknob asking for water,” Troyer said. “They told him they were closed so he left.”
Gallacher worked for the Key Peninsula Metropolitan Park District since 2005.
“Scott brought remarkable passion, energy and leadership to the park district,” Key Pen Parks wrote on its website. “Our gratitude for his years of service to Key Pen Parks and the community cannot be adequately expressed.”
Before that, he served as athletic coordinator for Marysville’s Parks and Recreation and recreation supervisor for Everett’s Parks and Recreation.
He leaves behind a wife and two children.
“This is a devastating loss for the whole community,” Pierce County Council member Derek Young tweeted.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 3:15 PM.
