Lt. Cmdr. Regina Mills spent her career working to keep her Naval comrades safe. She died trying to do the same for a stranger.
Mills, 44, was the woman killed Monday morning near Gig Harbor trying to help a motorcyclist who’d crashed on state Route 16 during an icy commute.
She served as the aircraft-handling officer on the USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier stationed in Bremerton. She was responsible for the arrangement of aircraft on the flight and hangar decks, the Navy said Tuesday.
Ensuring the safety of the pilots, sailors and mechanics who worked on the flight deck was the biggest part of her job, said Capt. Paul O. Monger, the Nimitz commanding officer.
“Regina was a great leader and officer,” Monger said. “She was a leader and mentor not only to the sailors and officers in the Air Department but throughout the ship.”
On Facebook, fellow sailors posted messages of condolences and said Mills was one-of-a-kind.
She made everyone feel like they mattered and took care of the junior sailors, Michael Selvey Truely wrote.
“It was an honor to serve with her,” Doug Ames wrote on the USS Nimitz Facebook page.
On his page, Joshua Palomares wrote, “Her job was to keep us safe on deck. She was like a mother to a lot of us. She will be greatly missed.”
Mills, a native of Louisville, Ky., was westbound on state Route 16 shortly after 5 a.m. she when came upon several crashes on the ice-slickened roadway near Burnham Drive.
The Everett resident parked her car in front of a Washington State Patrol cruiser and got out to help a motorcyclist who had crashed.
Mills, the trooper and the motorcyclist were standing on the right shoulder when a pickup lost control and hit another vehicle. That vehicle crashed into Mills and the others.
Mills was killed. The trooper and motorcyclist were hurt.
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268 stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
Witnesses sought
The State Patrol is asking any witnesses to the series of crashes Monday on state Route 16 near Burnham Drive to call detective Sgt. Jerry Cooper at 360-805-1192 or detective Curt Ladines at 360-805-1160.
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