Newport News, Va. - At his funeral, Dominique Robinson remembered a man she knew for only a brief time, but whose memory is now always with her. Richard Shomette was helping her family when he was killed.
Robinson says, "It was hard because, you know, a little part of me was kind of taking blame for it, because he was helping us, but I just can't thank him enough. Every night I talk to him when I'm praying."
The accident that took his life happened last month in Newport News.
"When they told me that he didn't make it, you know, it was really, really hard," Robinson said crying.
Robinson and her sister were stuck on the side of the road with their three young kids one night when Shomette came to their rescue.
The 22-year-old was helping them with a flat tire when police say a distracted driver headed straight for them. Shomette threw himself in front of the van to save Robinson's family. It's one thing his mom, Monica MacGillivray, takes comfort in.
"He made the ultimate sacrifice. He didn't think about moving out of the way himself. He was thinking about, 'I'm going to save this woman,' and it's just the kind of person he is, and he's my hero," she says.
Robinson couldn't agree more, and though her daughter is too young to understand now, she says one day she'll make sure she knows what Shomette did for her.
She says, "I feel like he is my guardian angel."
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