Boulder County Sheriff Deputy Stuart Edward Holt, who died in 2014, was honored Friday by being officially inducted into the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial in the Golden area.
Holt suffered a fatal stress-induced heart attack on June 2, 2014, after working overtime in the week prior. Not only had he responded to a structure fire days prior to his death, but while driving home from work, he came across a scene in which a bear ran into a road, prompting a car to brake and the driver behind to swerve. The car plunged into a creek, leading to the death of a 13-year-old girl. Holt was the first on the scene according to his daughter, Samantha Siegel.
Shortly after the fatal crash, Holt started complaining of chest pains to his wife. He died the next day after work.
Siegel, 34, described her dad as a funny, quiet man who loved skiing, hiking, history and movies. Siegel said her favorite memory with her father is when she watched The Titanic for the first time with him. She loved it so much it inspired her to study film in college and later name her son Dawson Edward — his first name being after The Titanic’s main character Jack Dawson, and his middle name being after Holt.
Siegel said she thinks it took some time for her father’s death to be recognized as a line-of-duty death because the parameters of what a line-of-duty death is have changed over time to recognize stress-induced fatalities…