Ka’Sheena Daniels, 31, of New Orleans, was killed Sept. 25 on westbound I-10 near Elysian Fields Avenue. She had stopped to help her neighbor, who was trapped in a flipped car after a speeding driver made a sudden lane change. Several other drivers stopped too. Then a second vehicle struck a stopped car and pushed it into the group of helpers. Multiple people were injured. Daniels was the only person who died. She was raising her adopted son, Noah, and worked in accounting.
Her family remembers her as someone who never passed by a person in need. Her mother said that if you needed help and she could give it, it was done. A friend who was at the scene said she wished Daniels had never helped anyone at all, that she had simply kept driving. That’s the raw math of grief when the best instinct a person has is also the one that ends their life.
For those of us here on the Suncoast, where I-75, the Sunshine Skyway, and US-41 see crashes every week, this story is a practical warning. If you’re first on the scene: pull fully off the roadway, turn on your hazards, call 911 before you get out, stay behind a guardrail or barrier if one exists, and never stand in a travel lane. Help, absolutely. But be the person who comes home. A GoFundMe has been set up to support Noah.
What’s the one roadside safety rule you follow every time you’re on the interstate? Tell us in the comments.
