The girlfriend of Brady Gaulke, the man who died Sunday morning after being struck by a vehicle while riding a scooter, doesn't want Nashville to forget the man he was, and she hopes his death can serve as a call to action to remove scooters from the city.

Gaulke received life-threatening injuries after being struck by a vehicle at Demonbreun Street and 14th Avenue South on Thursday night. He later died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was 26.

Gaulke and his girlfriend of four years, Brittany Ciullo, moved from Buffalo, New York, in June 2018 after Gaulke graduated from the University of Buffalo with a doctorate in physical therapy.

Ciullo, 25, a first-grade teacher at Rocketship United Academy in Nashville, described Gaulke as shy, but she said once someone got to know him, he was "not replaceable."

"He was very driven to help people, and I think that was the most admirable quality about him," Ciullo said. "He always wanted to give back to his community."

Gaulke worked in Nashville as a physical therapist at STAR Physical Therapy.

"He was so driven to do what was right for others and to learn and help people," she said.

Ciullo created a GoFundMe page to help Gaulke's family with funeral and medical expenses. She would also like some of the money to fund a yearly race in Gaulke's name. Gaulke loved to run obstacle course races, which Ciullo ran alongside him.

"Those races really did mean a lot to him, and I know people would come out to support," Ciullo said.

The dangers of scooters

Ciullo hopes that the accident can bring to light the dangers of scooter riding.

"This is a strong fight to ban these awful motorized vehicles in our cities," the GoFundMe page reads. "With the sudden reappearance of Lime, Bird and other scooter companies, Brady’s death will be the first. Please help us remove these unsafe measures of travel for good."

She said that she and Gaulke used to take the scooters everywhere around the city, but she has since realized the risk in doing so.

The crash that killed Gaulke occurred at Demonbreun Street and 14th Avenue South around 10 p.m. Thursday, Metro Nashville Police said.

Police think Gaulke improperly turned left into the roadway from the sidewalk and into the path of a Nissan Pathfinder, according to witnesses.

The driver of the Nissan Pathfinder was not injured.

A Monday news release from Metro Police stated that a bicycle lane was available on Demonbreun Street and reminded the public that scooter riders are required by law not to ride on sidewalks within a business district.

The release also states that for the first four months of 2019, the Nashville Fire Department reported 74 scooter-related injury transports: 12 in January, 4 in February, 15 in March and 43 in April.

"His death has really driven an attempt to get these scooters out of not only this city, but every city," Ciullo told The Tennessean. "They're very dangerous. They encourage you to wear a helmet, but it's not like you can go pick up a helmet wherever you're standing."

Ciullo said that she spoke with Gaulke's surgeons, and they told her his injuries were so severe, a helmet would not have saved Gaulke.

"These scooters are a bane on the city," Ciullo said.

Popular electric scooter company Bird received a cease and desist letter from Nashville officials in May 2018, after the city said regulations needed to be put in place before the dock-less scooters could be allowed across Nashville.Two months after the dispute with the city, the electronic scooters returned to Music City with new rules in place.

Ciullo is not alone in her concern. Former councilman Adam Dread recently announced that he's running for an at-large Metro Council seat, and he's focusing on banning scooters in Nashville.

"I want to get rid of these scooters," Dread said in an interview with The Tennessean last week. "There are 4,000 of these things. They are an invasive species. Somebody has to do something about them."

Ciullo said funeral arrangements have not been set.

Reach Andrew Wigdor at awigdor@tennessean.com and on Twitter @wiggie5885.