Global Courant 2023-05-23 13:02:54
Casey Rivara was fatally hit by a car as he returned to his vehicle. He had helped a duck family cross the road.Vlad Georgescu/Getty Images
A man in California was fatally hit by a car while helping a family of ducks cross the street.
Casey Rivara, 41, died Thursday when he returned to his vehicle after escorting the ducklings.
Police said the teen who hit him is unlikely to be prosecuted.
A California man was tragically killed Thursday after he stopped to help a family of ducks cross a road and was hit by a teenage driver.
Casey Rivara, 41, was fatally hit by a car on Stanford Ranch Road and Park Drive in Placer County, California, the police said in a statement.
Rivara had gotten out of the car to “help some ducklings who were in the intersection” when a teenager hit him with her car, the statement said.
The 17-year-old remained on scene to cooperate, and police said it is unlikely she will face criminal charges as there appeared to be no criminal negligence. according to NBC News. But authorities added that an investigation was underway.
Witnesses said Rivara safely escorted the ducks out of traffic and returned to his vehicle when the car hit him. according to NBC affiliate KCRA.
A 12-year-old boy who was on the scene, named William, said people cheered and applauded Rivara.
“He got out of the car and chased the ducks away, and everyone was clapping because he was being really nice,” William told KCRA. “He helped them get over the curb because all the little baby ducks were having problems, and then he walked out in front of our car.”
The boy said he didn’t see where the car came from. “All I remember is the sound and then he flew over the intersection,” he told KCRA. “His shoes and one of his socks were right in front of our car.”
A GoFundMe for Rivara’s family, titled “Casey’s Last Act of Kindness,” said the man who was driving his kids home when the accident happened.
“On May 18, 2023, my cousin, Casey Rivara, was driving his kids home after kids swim practice when they saw a mama duck and ducklings struggling to cross a busy intersection. Casey got out of the car to help the ducks safely across the road,” wrote Rivara’s aunt, Tracey Rivara.
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Rivara was married with two children, an 11-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy, and had recently started working at his children’s school, according to GoFundMe.
His wife, Angel Chow, said she received an outpouring of kind messages and gestures after Rivara’s death.
“My heart is in a thousand pieces and I don’t know how to put them back together,” Chow wrote in a statement Saturday. “But I’m honored to know that he left us while making a positive impact on others, even animals.”
Chow and Tracey Rivara did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
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