PHOENIX — It's not the way 33-year-old Andrew Worth's family and friends thought he'd go. Worth loved riding his motorcycle, but his loved ones still believe his death was unfair.
“I’ve never met anyone like him in my whole life," said Charmaine Tomlinson, Worth's girlfriend of three years.
Andy, as most of his friends called him, was hit and killed by a suspected drunk driver near 53rd Avenue and Indian School.
The accused driver, 57-year-old Priscilla Kgosimore-Kalauba, failed to yield at a green light, made a left turn, and hit Worth.
“It was such hard impact that his helmet flew," said Rebecca Gonzales, a nurse who says she was following Kgosimore-Kalauba when she noticed her erratic driving, and witnessed the crash. “He was a great person," she said. "No one should have to experience this.”
Worth was a US Marine, and served time overseas in 2006. He even received a bronze star during active duty.
“He’s fought for you to be able to walk these streets and do what you want to do” said Jasmine Lara, one of Worth's closest friends.
Lara says Worth's family lives in Texas, where he was raised, and wants to bury him among other servicemen and women at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, but his remains are still in Arizona.
“His last wishes were to just be cremated and go back home, and that’s all I wanna do for him is I just wanna get him home.”
His family is asking for help to pay for the expensive process, and the journey to get their Marine home to Texas, where he'll receive full honors, including a 21 gun salute at a military funeral.
“It’s exactly what he would have wanted," Tomlinson said. "Andy was a Marine, it’s just that plain and simple.”
Family and friends have started an online fundraiser, asking for donations. They say any extra money collected will go toward PTSD awareness, a cause Worth cared deeply about.
“He deserves every respect and every honor, that he could possibly get.”
