Tragic end for man’s final act of kindness
Selfless deed of protecting ducklings at a busy intersection leaves lasting impact
After escorting the ducklings to safety, Casey Rivara started to return to his car as fellow drivers honked and clapped, when he was hit by a car.
Casey Rivara helped those who needed it, and on Thursday evening, at the intersection of Stanford Ranch Road and Park Drive in Rocklin, Califoria, those who needed help were a mama duck and her eight to 10 ducklings.
Mama Duck and her train of tiny poof balls were struggling to navigate an intersection of two busy thoroughfares where the speed limit reaches 70kph, witness Angela Wimsatt-Thomas told The Washington Post.
Rivara had noticed the danger, gotten out of his vehicle, helped stop traffic and then half-escorted, half-shooed them across two westbound lanes. He made sure each of them made it to the safety of the sidewalk.
Tragedy strikes
With traffic seemingly at a standstill, Rivara started to return to his car as fellow drivers honked and clapped, Wimsatt-Thomas said. He downplayed his brief gig moonlighting as a shepherd when Wimsatt-Thomas gave him an attaboy. It wasn’t a big deal, he told her.
Seconds later, and mere feet away from his two children who had been waiting in the car, Rivara stepped into an open lane of traffic at the precise moment a 17-year-old was about to drive through the intersection.
She hit him, and Rivara died at the scene, Wimsatt-Thomas said.
Strikes a chord
In the days since, Rivara’s death has resonated with people across the country as a potent example of the power of tiny acts of kindness, especially toward the most vulnerable. A memorial has sprouted at the intersection, in the median close to where Rivara died and on the sidewalk where he guided the ducks to safety. It includes classic tributes of grief like flowers, but also some specific to what Rivara’s aunt described as her nephew’s “final act of kindness” — a host of yellow rubber duckies.
Wimsatt-Thomas, 48, and her children were stopped at a red light when a man alerted them to ducks approaching. Rivara bravely guided the ducks to safety. WimsattThomas applauded him, but tragically, he was struck by a vehicle near her car, leaving her traumatised.