Gumm loved patrolling job, hockey
Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Heath Gumm was remembered Thursday as a man who was full of energy, whether he was patrolling the streets in uniform or skating for a local hockey club.
In December, Gumm came to the aid of Eric Traugutt when a tire flew off the U-Haul trailer he was towing along West 72nd Avenue. The tire had flown through the air and hit a fence, leaving Traugutt and the trailer stranded in the middle of traffic.
For Traugutt, it was a frustrating thing to happen after driving his household belongings to Colorado from Florida that week. But Gumm had a sarcastic sense of humor that lightened the mood, and he was quick to come up with a plan to help, Traugutt recalled Thursday.
Gumm retrieved the tire and placed it back on the trailer. But to make it stay, Gumm had to physically hold it in place as Traugutt slowly drove the trailer off the road.
“He was like a guy you could have a beer with or hang out with,” Traugutt said. “He made the interaction enjoyable and easy to get through instead of acting like I was in trouble or a nuisance.”
The encounter led Traugutt’s mother, Michele Traugutt, to write a thankyou letter to Adams County Sheriff Michael McIntosh.
On Thursday, McIntosh recalled the letter during a news conference about Gumm and the investigation into his death Wednesday night.
“His approach was so calm and professional, this mother was moved to write us a letter,” McIntosh said. “You can imagine from the past five years there are a lot of stories like this about Deputy Gumm.”
Gumm, 31, was killed when he was shot while chasing a suspect who had been involved in a disturbance outside a liquor store in Thornton. McIntosh said it was just the second lineof-duty death of a deputy since he joined the department 30 years ago.
Gumm, who was known by the nickname “Gummball,” had joined the sheriff’s office in 2012. He is survived by his wife, Natasha, and other family members, the sheriff’s office said. He had no children.
Gumm grew up in a family of first responders, most of them firefighters. His father, James Gumm, is a retired West Metro Fire Protection District engineer, said Ronda Scholting, a spokeswoman for the fire department.
Gumm graduated in 2004 from Denver’s Mullen High
How to help
Here’s what you need to know if you want to help the family:
•The Adams County Sheriff’s Office asks for all financial donations to be made through the Adams County Sheriff’s Foundation. The Colorado Police Officers’ Foundation is also accepting PayPal donations for the family.
•In lieu of flowers, Gumm’s family has asked that donations go to the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation. •Details on funeral arrangements have not been released yet. School, where the student body prayed for him during a Mass on Thursday.
His ninth-grade English teacher Sean Keefe, who is in charge of alumni relations, said Gumm was a good guy from a big family. He played hockey, he didn’t bring unnecessary attention to himself and he was steady — his highs weren’t too high and his lows weren’t too low.
“By all accounts, he lived his life as a grown man as he did as a kid,” Keefe said. “He was a good guy. That didn’t change. That only got more accentuated as he grew up.”
Keefe said the school wasn’t surprised Gumm got into law enforcement, where he could serve the public. He had a tight group of friends who were highly motivated.
“He lifted his friends,” Keefe said. “He made his friends the best version of themselves, and they did that to him as well.”
Gumm continued his passion for hockey into adulthood, playing for the Fighting Nemos Hockey Club. He was a defenseman for the co-ed team.
“No words can describe how we are all feeling,” the team wrote in a Facebook post. “Heath was not just a teammate, he was a friend, he was family, he was our brother. Deputy Gumm played hockey like he lived his life, full of fun, passion, toughness, and with a little bit of goofiness mixed in.”
The team will honor him at a game at 7:25 p.m. on Feb. 4 at Sport Stable in Superior.
The sheriff’s office requested that donations to Gumm’s family be sent to its foundation at adcosheriffsfoundation.org.