Utah Man Crashes on the Way to Propose to Girlfriend
A Utah man who crashed his car on the way to propose to his girlfriend is unconscious in a hospital bed but still ended up engaged after a state trooper recovered the ring in a puddle at the crash site.
Adam Goodsell was on his way to propose to the love of his life, driving from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Logan Friday with the engagement ring in hand to surprise Goldie Chaney.
But 30 minutes after sharing the plans with his sister by cellphone from his car, Adam Goodsell found himself frantically calling 911 for help. The brakes had gone out.
"I'm going down Sardine Canyon," Goodsell told the 911 operator. "My brakes went out. The gas pedal is stuck."
The operator asked whether he was headed northbound or southbound. But there was no response on the other end of the phone because Goodsell had already crashed his Land Rover and been ejected from the car.
Goodsell was taken to a hospital in Logan, Utah, and later transported to McKay-Dee Hospital Center in Ogdon, where he is critical condition. Chaney rushed to the hospital to find Goodsell unresponsive.
"Your stomach hurts," she told ABC4 news of her reaction. "You feel like you have the chills all over. It's just so hard to explain."
With Goodsell in a hospital bed and his girlfriend by his side, the engagement ring remained in a puddle beside the crashed car. But a Utah state trooper found the ring and handed it off to Goodsell's father.
After passing through three different pair of hands, the engagement ring finally made its way to Chaney's ring finger. Goodsell's father had given it to the woman for whom it was meant.
"He went upstairs into Adam's room and put the ring box in his hand and he said, 'You know we feel this is something you want us to do is to give her the ring. You're going to ask her to marry you,' and it kind of went from there. It was cute," Chaney told ABC4 of the "proposal" from an unconscious man.
"'It's yes,' We told him. I don't know if he heard me. I think he can hear me," she added.
But doctors warned Chaney that her fiance could wake up with paralysis or neurological problems.
Goodsell's sister said he had been so proud of his plan. "'I'm so excited, I don't know if I can wait to give it to her tonight,'" Emily Byington recalled his saying right before the accident. "'I want to give it to her right away.'"
