Good Samaritan killed while helping child at crash scene

ARLINGTON, Wash. — These are difficult hours for Gayla Thompson. "I'm hanging in there," she said.

Her 46-year-old daughter, Trina Morgan, was killed near Arlington, Washington, Saturday night, trying to help someone else's child.

Thompson was asked if that is what her daughter was like?

"Yeah, she would have helped you," said Thompson. "She would have gave you the shirt off her back, if she thought that's what you needed."

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Morgan was driving on Highway 530, 6 miles east of Arlington, when she came upon a car crash.

She went over to help and discovered a 9-year-old girl in the car with a driver who appeared to be intoxicated.

She and the girl were walking along the highway when another driver struck them both.

The child suffered only minor injuries, but Morgan was mortally wounded.

"She was doing what any mom would do," Thompson said. "It's a child. There's a car. There's an accident. Is there something I can do to help? And that is what she did. She went and helped them. And in that brief second of a moment, she lost her life."

Now her mother must learn to live without a daughter who had given in this life whatever she could.

"No matter what struggles she was going through, she still loved life," Thompson said. "And I know she missed her mother. And now they are together. And I can't bring her back. I wish I could. But that will never happen."

Thompson says she feels no ill will toward the driver who killed her daughter.

The accident is under investigation.

But the Washington State Patrol says the driver likely won't face any charges.

Cox Media Group