Down-on-her-luck woman pulled over for speeding but instead of receiving a ticket an officer changed her life

A routine speeding stop on an Alabama highway changed two lives for the better when a 20-year-old driver followed the advice of a compassionate officer.

Abbie Rutledge felt her heart sink as she saw flashing blue lights behind her 10-year-old Toyota as she sped down Highway 78 one August morning in 2022.

The then 20-year-old told state trooper JT Brown she couldn’t pay the fine because she was “broke and had a dead-end job.”

Fifteen minutes later, the two agreed that he would let her go with a warning, after she promised to fulfill her dormant ambition to become a nurse.

And exactly two years later, he was in the audience when she graduated with a degree in surgical technology from Bevill State Community College.

“I think it was the right person, the right time, the right words that were said,” she said CBS.

Alabama State Trooper JT Brown arrested her

The former Jasper cheerleader may have been speeding, but she wasn’t going anywhere fast when her path crossed Brown’s just outside Birmingham.

While working full-time as a driver for Coca Cola, she “still struggled with what she wanted to do with her career,” said mother Tammy Guthrie.

“He challenged her to find a career and work toward it,” she added. “As they talked, she realized that Officer Brown had graduated from the Surgical Tech Program at Bevill State in 2013.”

When he wanted to let her go, he gave her a warning and wrote on it: ‘Promise me that you will go to nursing school or cleaning school, and that you will slow down, and you will not get a fine.’

And Abbie decided to take the advice to heart.

“She was so excited when she called to tell me about the ticket,” her mother wrote on Facebook. “All I could think was she was speeding!”

“She said, Mom, he talked to me for 10 to 15 minutes on the side of the road and I’m going to put this ticket in my glove compartment and invite him to my graduation. Because I’m going to school.

“He did in 10 to 15 minutes something I’ve been wanting to help her do for 20 years!”

Twelve months later, Abbie began classes at Bevill State University and last month she began working as a surgical assistant at UAB Highlands Hospital in Birmingham.

“Agent Brown was polite and courteous,” she said Rik Karle.

‘He saw me in my Coca-Cola uniform and asked me about my career.

“He asked if I had any dreams for my future, and I said I did. He said if I promised to pursue my dream, he would let me off with a warning.”

“Once he left, and once I got to where I wanted to go, I started pushing myself toward that career. And now I’m here.”

Two years after the traffic stop, Officer Brown was in the audience to see Abbie graduate as a certified surgical technician from Bevill State Community College

She showed him the ticket he had written, which she had kept in her glove compartment since the stop.

Mother Tammy Guthrie (center) said Brown “accomplished something in 10 to 15 minutes that I should have been helping her do for 20 years!”

The newly graduated surgical assistant says she is thrilled with her first job at UAB Highlands

Abbie says she is very happy with her new job and that she saw Brown in the audience when she received her certificate on stage.

“I wanted him to see the impression he made on me,” she explained.

‘Talking to someone for five minutes, even if you don’t know them, can have the biggest impact on someone’s life. ‘You never know when it might happen.’

Brown, too, has reflected on the unexpectedly powerful outcome of a routine traffic stop.

“I like to help people. I talk to most people I stop and encourage them,” he said.

“If I can help people and show them that God is good, that’s a victory for both of us.

“She made my whole career worthwhile.”