Husband of West Virginia EMT Wants Closure in Accident Case

When Tennille Davis died, she left behind a husband, two kids and a life unfulfilled.

In January, she was killed, police say, when she was struck by an oncoming vehicle while driving on W.Va. 3 in Boone County to teach an emergency medical class.

Deborah Baber, 27, was driving a Ford Explorer SUV when she crossed into Davis' lane and struck her head-on, according to police. Baber, who was severely injured, and her two young children survived the crash.

Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller said the case against Baber will be taken to a grand jury in January.

The case has been held up while toxicology reports are subpoenaed from the hospital where Baber was treated, Miller said.

"We don't want to leave any kind of stone unturned," he said, "because of the nature of the tragedy before us."

Before the tragedy, though, there was a marriage.

Gary Davis lived the life of a bachelor until age 43, never believing he would meet the right person.

Then he met Tennille, 20 years his junior and a student in one of the emergency medical technician classes he taught as a trained EMT for the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority.

She swept him off his feet, he said. They started seeing each other a few months after the class, when Tennille's divorce from her first husband was finalized.

In months, he went from hanging out at bars at night and on the weekend to spending most of his time with her.

In February 2000, they were married. On Sept. 6, 2000, their daughter, Madeline, was born. Their son, Cayden, followed on June 10, 2003.

Tennille was an EMT like Gary, and she continued her education, becoming a critical-care paramedic, the highest level of training for an EMT.

Gary Davis said the few years they had together were the happiest time of their lives, although they each had to work two jobs.

"What we do for a living, you don't do it for the money that we make," he said. "We do it because we like helping people."

Madeline, her dad says, was a mommy's girl.

"She always had a fear that Mommy was going to go and never come back," he said. "She had that as soon as she could express it."

EMTs, by nature, have a gallows sense of humor. When you handle the severely injured and sick, you find a way to deal with it, Gary Davis said.

Knowing about her parents' jobs likely played a part in Madeline's fears, he said.

For as long as Gary Davis knew Tennille, she had wanted to become flight medic for HealthNet. She interviewed for the job shortly before the accident.

She died before getting the call that she had gotten the job.

When Gary Davis learned of the accident, he rushed to CAMC General Hospital to be at his wife's side.

"There were 30 or 40 [Kanawha County Ambulance Authority] employees there," he said. "They told me she was real bad."

When he got to see his wife, there were no marks on her face, although she was hooked up to a breathing machine.

When doctors did an X-ray of her head, though, they told Gary Davis she had subdural bleeding.

Most people who hear a doctor say those words don't understand what it means at first.

Being an EMT, Gary Davis knew immediately. Pressure from the blood caused Tennille's brain to shift. She had suffered severe brain damage.

Gary Davis knew his wife was not going to survive.

"Being in the medical field ... is all I have ever done in my life," he said. "That is one of the days I wish I didn't know what I do."

Then Gary Davis went home to tell his children.

"[Madeline] started crying. She said, 'I knew Mommy wasn't going to come home one day,'" Gary Davis said. "[Cayden] went completely crazy. He screamed and cried and kicked me and bit me. ... He sometimes says, 'Daddy, I want to die. I want to go see Mommy. I tell him, 'No, don't do that. Mommy will wait on you. She wants you to live.'"

Davis wants to see Baber prosecuted for the death of his wife. Baber could not be reached for comment for this story.

"I just want my kids to know when they grow older that this woman was punished," he said. "I have to go on doing what I have done for a living. Life goes on whether we want it to or not."

To contact staff writer Gary Harki, use e-mail gharki@wvgazette.com or call 348-5163.