Remembering Trooper Tara Guting: Former coach says she inspired those around her
Dec 22, 2025, 6:23 AM
Washington State Patrol Trooper Tara Guting. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Those who knew and loved Trooper Tara-Marysa Guting are remembering her life and service.
Trooper Guting was killed in the line of service on Dec. 19, 2025. She was out of her vehicle responding to a crash on SR 509 in Tacoma when she was hit and killed by another driver.
Guting was born in Hawaii on July 19, 1996, where she spent most of her life. She attended Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii, and graduated on May 25, 2014.
In Miliani, one of her former Judo coaches remembers her positivity and the way she inspired those around her.
In an interview with HawaiiNewsNow.com, coach Kalani Takase teared up remembering his former student, saying:
“She was a tremendous supporter, consummate teammate. She had the personality that I think teammates would just kind of gravitate to because she was always positive, you know, when practices would get hard, when losses might, you know, provide a setback or hit a student with a setback.”
He told HawaiiNewsNow that she carried those same qualities into her career.
“In sports, especially youth sports up to the high school level, you’re trying to instill in these athletes teamwork, sacrifice, perseverance, grit, giving your best for those who depend on you. And Tara, you know, did that in her daily life as a member of the National Guard first and then eventually with the Washington State Troopers. So I’m very proud of her for the person that she is and the contributions she made to our society,” continues Takase.
Takase said that Guting was one of four siblings, and that they were all close. She provided strength to her mother and siblings when their father died in November 2021, Takase recalled.
You can see the full conversation with Takase in the video player above.
