The family of 26-year-old Major Padgett Jr., who died in a single-car accident on his way to Las Vegas in April, met the California Highway Patrol officer who responded to the crash.
"This is very rare - almost unheard of," the officer, Larry Shupe, told the family.
It is unusual for officers to learn about the victims of fatal car crashes, he said.
Padgett was on his way to spend a weekend with his friends when he was killed. He was the only one in the car.
"You're going to be a part of our lives from now on," his father, Major Padgett Sr., told the 19-year CHP veteran.
Padgett Sr. and his family traveled to California from Norfolk, Va., this week to meet the people who took care of Little Major - that's what his family called him - after he died.
They also wanted to come full circle with what happened to him and do the painful work of cleaning out his apartment in Chino Hills.
Padgett Jr. moved to Southern California two years ago with his friend Mike Gould to help Gould care for his grandparents in Pomona.
He was on his way to meet Gould and several other friends at 8 a.m. April 14 when one of the tires on his Mitsubishi convertible blew out and his car rolled over and ended up in the southbound lane near Cima Road, north of Baker. He died before help arrived.
At the meeting with Shupe, 44, and three other CHP officials, Padgett Sr. said he told Little Major he needed new tires when he came to visit him a year ago.
One of the people who stopped to check on Padgett Jr. right after the crash, Tawn Negri, put his hand on Padgett Jr.'s shoulder and prayed for him, said Natalie Carducci, Little Major's older sister.
Negri was on his way to Lake Arrowhead to visit his mother, she said.
The family - Natalie; her husband Matthew Carducci; Little Major's mom Barbara Padgett; and Major Sr.'s son Marc Brooks - was on the way to Las Vegas to have dinner with Negri on Friday night.
After the accident, Negri sent Natalie a message on myspace.com to tell her he had prayed for her little brother.
Negri said Friday that the event strengthened his connection with God.
"Even in death he reached somebody," Natalie said of Little Major's effect on Negri.
When Padgett Jr. left Virginia to move to Southern California, he was a quiet young man, his father, a 61-year-old Transportation Safety Administration employee at the Norfolk airport, said.
"He started really finding himself," Padgett Sr. said of his son, worked at a Toyota distribution facility in Torrance. "His life was really coming together."
His family said they expect 150 people to show up at a memorial for Padgett Jr. today at Norco Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 3621 Corona Ave.
Before the meeting, the Padgetts stopped at the site of the accident and at the towing company to see Little Major's car. They found his cell phone still in the car and what they thought was his car battery still at the site of the accident.
When the Padgetts arrived at a restaurant in the casino and saw the CHP officials, they began crying and embraced them.
"You treated us wonderfully - you really did," Padgett Sr. said.
He gave Shupe a check for a charity of his choice.
Shupe said he was going to make it out to the California Association of Highway Patrolmen's Widows and Orphans Fund.
It was Padgett Sr.'s brother, Rodger, who was in touch with Shupe from Virginia. Shupe helped the family get the accident report, Rodger said.
"He was our anchor out here in California. We felt like we had someone here who was totally, totally on Major's side," Padgett Sr. said of Shupe.
"When we were in Virginia, we just felt like (Major) was safely taken care of," he said.
Shupe said he was just doing his job.
"It was another day at the office," he said, "but from the family's view it was a life-altering experience."
"But it's a job he chose," Rodger said, "and it's not an easy one."