Nereida ‘Nedi’ Benitez, Temecula nurse and Gary Chad Tillman, marine veteran killed on Southern California Freeway after stopping to help crash victims along I-15. The Good Samaritans were struck during a secondary crash as they rendered aid near the 15 Freeway in San Diego County. Jake Lopez Lawrence who caused initial crash charged with DUI and vehicular manslaughter.
An ER nurse was struck and killed by a car after pulling up along to assist a victim of a DUI crash along a California highway. The tragedy happened just moments after the selfless medical worker finishing a night shift.
Nereida Benitez, 40, also known as ‘Nedi’, had just wrapped up her shift at San Diego‘s Sharp Memorial Hospital on June 11 and was driving home to Temecula when she spotted a crash on Interstate 15 in La Mesa.
Leading up to the tragedy a Toyota minivan was rear-ended by a Honda CR-V, sending the van careening into the median, just on 4 a.m, Thursday the California Highway Patrol stated.
Temecula nurse & marine vet killed pulling up to assist I-15 road crash victim
After seeing the aftermath of the collision, the emergency room nurse and another Good Samaritan, Gary Chad Tillman, a 54-year-old Marine veteran, pulled over to help out, ABC10 reported.
But as the two of them stood on the driver’s side of the Honda, driven by Jake Lopez Lawrence, 21, another car slammed into the CR-V, killing Benitez and Tillman.
Both of them died at the scene. Lawrence was arrested on DUI charges and a gross vehicular manslaughter charge.
Selfless and much beloved ER nurse
The loss has devastated Benitez’s colleagues at the hospital where she worked, where she began her nursing career nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Your heart sinking down to the pit of your stomach. That’s how I felt,’ nursing manager Tania Jones told ABC10. ‘It’s been like a shock that one of us is gone, because we’ve become family.’
Jones said Benitez’s positive attitude was impossible to miss, even during the height of the pandemic.
‘She’s a nurse, always caring and compassionate. That’s how we should remember Nedi. That’s how she would have wanted it,’ Jones added.
Just weeks before her untimely death, Benitez, had enlisted in the Air Force, as she always dreamed of being a trauma flight nurse, according to her obituary.
The selfless nurse leaves behind a husband, Emilio. The couple had just celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary.
ALERT: Nurse and veteran good Samaritans died after trying to help a drunk driver on a Southern California freeway.
Nereida Benitez was driving to her Temecula home from her overnight shift as an ER nurse at San Diego’s Sharp Memorial Hospital when she stopped to help out a car… pic.twitter.com/Q9HAYBkQXc
— Q RIGHT SCOPE (@Qrightscopee) June 17, 2026
Final act of selfnessness and living life on their terms
Tillman’s family has remembered him as a man who ‘grew up with a spirit of duty and compassion that would define every chapter of his life,’ his obituary read.
He entered the US Marine Corps after high school, where he served his country for 12 years.
Tillman then became a truck driver who loved to spend time with his wife and kids when he was not on the road.
A GoFundMe page has since been launched in honor of Tillman.
A service for Benitez is set for June 18 from 11am to 7pm. A memorial service for Tillman is scheduled for June 24.
Lawrence was booked into the Vista Detention Facility after his arrest. He will be arraigned on Thursday.
