How a Lady Becomes Wife, and 8 Hours later a widow

A bridegroom died on his way home with his
new bride after their wedding reception.
William Riley Knight, who served in the US Army
Rangers in the 82nd Airborne Division, died with
another woman, not his wife, when he was hit
and run over by three cars on a road in Crown
Point, Indiana.
He had been married for less than eight hours.
"I went from a being a newlywed to a widow in
less than 48 hours – the highest high to the
lowest low," his new wife, now widow, Nikki, told
the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's a blur."
"He was the type of person who was willing to
put himself on the line and support you no
matter what," she said by phone.
Patti Van Til, Lake County Sheriff's Office
spokeswoman told CBS Chicago that the
newlyweds were on their way home from their
wedding reception when Knight stopped to give
help to a female who was walking up an
embankment after her car had slid off the road.
"He was just trying to do a good thing for
somebody in need," the spokeswoman said.
"It's very sad. We have a job to do here, but
sometimes it just brings you sadness."
Knight's new wife Nikki was in the truck
alongside her 49-year-old husband, when he
went to aid the woman in the other car – Linda
Darlington, a 42-year-old – who was also killed.
"She was still in her wedding dress," Van Til
said.
Knight had parked his vehicle in a nearby
driveway leaving Nikki to wait in the car.
"He said, 'We've got to stop, it's late and they
need help,'" Nikki told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"One of the first vehicles was coming eastbound
and struck both individuals," said John Buncich,
Lake County Sheriff. "A car right behind them,
the first vehicle, also struck the two, and
unfortunately a third vehicle that eastbound also
struck the couple."
All three motorists who struck Knight and
Darlington stayed at the scene to give evidence to
police when they arrived.
Nikki, a registered nurse, said that from their
truck it looked like a car had driven over a lump
of snow when she heard a thud. When she went
out to the scene, she said, and realised it was
Knight and the woman he went to help,
Darlington. Neither had pulses.