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MARYSVILLE, Wash. — A Washington woman who stopped to help at the scene of a car accident had $900 stolen from her own car in the process.
Peggy Ray witnessed on Saturday a 74-year-old man hit a pickup truck and run his car off the road into a water-filled ditch. A 68-year-old woman was also in the vehicle. She told KIRO she saw the car smoking and thought, "We need to get these people out."
Ray said someone at the scene asked her if she had anything in her vehicle she could use to break the couple's window. Upon returning to the crash site, she left her passenger door open, which a thief took as an opportunity to take $900 out of an envelope she had left in her purse — $900 with which she was on her way to pay her rent.
Ray who has six teenagers to support, was devastated at the discovery.
"It's disgusting. It's the last thing I even thought about," she said. "It's frustrating when you stop to help people, and somebody just takes from you like that."
Ray told KOMO she believes someone who stopped at the scene of the accident took the money — but with two dozen onlookers to investigate, state troopers are relying on the public to provide tips.
Firefighters at the scene of the accident collected $750 to Ray and her family to go toward their rent, and she told ABCnews.com she has also received donations from a radio station and from customers at the Starbucks she manages. She said anything she receives above $900 will be donated to charity.
"The question I keep getting is, would I do it again? Absolutely," she said. "Only, I would lock my doors first."
