SEATTLE — It is still hard for Mary Nigh, some 15 months after her husband succumbed to the catastrophic injuries he suffered in May of 2014.
A drug-impaired driver struck 56-year-old Mark Nigh as his son watched in horror.
"This guy was really special," Mary Nigh said of her husband of nearly 30 years—tears staining her face. "He affected a lot of lives. He's going to be missed by so many people."
So on Saturday night, his widow helped send Pierce County law enforcement officers onto Tacoma's streets to prevent what happened to her family from happening to anyone else.
"I know Mr. Tamayo did not wake up that day expecting to kill my husband," she said, her voice breaking. "I don't hate him."
Forty-five-year-old Jason Tamayo pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide last March.
His sentence of eight years in prison was nearly the maximum.
"We're doing a DUI emphasis tonight," Bonney Lake police Officer Eric Alfano told the driver he pulled over. "Looking for impaired drivers."
Officer Alfano is one of more than a dozen officers who fanned out across Tacoma looking for drivers who shouldn't be on the road.
"A lot of people don't appreciate getting tickets and stopped for whatever the reasons," said Alfano as he patrolled. “But I think it does make a difference."
A difference that surely saves lives.
"Hopefully they can get as many impaired drivers as they can," said Mary Nigh. "So other people don't have to go through this, at least tonight."
By 10:30 Saturday night, three impaired drivers had been arrested.
And the night was still young.
KIRO
