LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While the past few days have admittedly been a fog, Faith Darland can still recall the exact moment her world changed.
“I just got home from work and I opened the door and a coroner card fell out, so I called the number,” Darland told WLKY Friday.
And that was how she learned she had lost her mother.
“She explained there was a drunk driver that made a U-turn. He caused two cars to flip over in the ditch,” she recalled of her conversation with the coroner.
But Angie Cecil, 50, was not in one of those cars. She was directly behind them. Cecil witnessed the crash, which happened just before 11 p.m. Monday in the 15000 block of Dixie Highway, not far from West Point.
She got out to help, and according to her daughter, that was just her nature.
“She was always giving back to somebody and rescuing dogs, always,” Darland said, adding her mother’s final act was “not surprising.”
The driver who struck Cecil, a 29-year-old man who was on his way to work, thought he hit a deer. Still, he stopped and no charges are expected. But for Faith Darland and her family it was important to reach out to him and she did, thanks to social media.
“I told him, I’m not mad. I don’t hate you. I even invited him to her memorial, I said, ‘If you need closure you are more than welcome to come,'” she said.
But for the alleged drunk driver, it’s a different story.
“I feel like it all could have been prevented. Those two car wrecks would not have been in the ditch and my mom would not have stopped,” Darland said.
Even in tragedy, Darland said she finds comfort in her mother’s final act.
“Knowing she was trying to help somebody, that really does give me peace,” she said.
Darland and her family have visited the crash site and noticed the lack of lighting, as well as multiple crosses marking other deaths. She is hoping to partner with metro officials to change that.
A funeral service for Cecil will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at Advantage Funeral Home located at 10907 Dixie Highway. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. until the service. Those wishing to donate to help the family with funeral costs can do so then.