The rain has been relentless in Tacoma for the last two weeks, but Friday night brought a different kind of storm—one that left the Washington State Patrol mourning a sister and a husband without his wife. Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting, a 29-year-old who spent her life running toward the things most people run away from, was killed in the line of duty. She was doing exactly what she loved: helping people on the side of a dangerous road.
The Washington State Patrol (WSP) confirms the tragic loss of Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting #720, who was killed Friday evening after being struck by a vehicle in Tacoma. pic.twitter.com/9kAmL5rAI1
— WA State Patrol (@wastatepatrol) December 20, 2025
It happened just before 7:30 p.m. on southbound State Route 509. There had been a two-vehicle crash near the Port of Tacoma, and Guting was out of her patrol car, standing in the cold air to investigate and keep the scene safe. In a split second, another vehicle struck her. Bystanders who were already at the scene rushed to help her, trying desperately to save the woman who had come to save them, but her injuries were simply too much to overcome.
Chief John Batiste, visibly shaken when he spoke to the press in the early hours of Saturday, described Guting as a “fantastic young lady” who was doing a “heck of a job.” He noted that the driver who hit her stayed at the scene and has been fully cooperating with the Tacoma Police Department. For now, it looks like a tragic accident fueled by poor visibility and the slick, rain-soaked pavement that has plagued the region lately.
Guting wasn’t just a trooper; she was a woman of deep service. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, she brought a spirit of “Aloha” to the Pacific Northwest. Before she ever put on the WSP badge, she spent eight years in the Army National Guard as a signal intelligence analyst. She was a person who believed in duty, graduating from Mililani High School in 2014 and immediately looking for ways to give back to her country and her community.
Her journey with the Washington State Patrol was relatively new, but she had already made a massive impact. She started as a cadet in January 2024 and was commissioned just this past October as part of the 119th Basic Training Class. She had been on the road for only 13 months, assigned to District 1 in Tacoma, where she quickly became a beloved fixture among her fellow officers and the locals she protected.
The loss hits home even harder within the department because of her husband, Timothy. The two were married in 2019 at the State Fire Training Academy—a place that represents the very core of their shared life of service. Timothy works as a Deputy State Fire Marshal at that same academy. Now, the WSP family is rallying around him, trying to fill a void that Chief Batiste says “floods our souls with tears.”
This tragedy marks the 34th time in the Washington State Patrol’s 105-year history that a trooper has died in the line of duty. It’s a sobering reminder of the risks these men and women take every time they step out of their cruisers into the dark and the rain. As a procession of flashing blue lights escorted her body to the medical examiner’s office, the city of Tacoma stood still, honoring a young woman who gave everything to a state she chose to call home.
