An Alabama woman revealed that a 15-minute life-changing conversation with a kind state trooper during a traffic stop inspired her to pursue her dream career.
Alabama State Trooper JT Brown busted Abby Rutledge for speeding on a Birmingham highway but, instead of ticketing her, he gave her some life-changing advice in August 2022.
“I think he was the right person, the right time and the right words,” Routledge said told CBS News on Friday.
Rutledge, 20, told Brown she was working as a full-time driver for Coca-Cola and was nervous about how she would pay for the ticket without much money in her bank account.
The pair discussed various possible career paths Rutledge could take throughout their conversation, which lasted 10 to 15 minutes.
“He challenged her to find a career and work toward it,” Rutledge’s mother, Tammy Guthrie, said on Facebook. “As they were talking she realized that Officer Brown had completed the surgical tech program at Beville State in 2013 where his mom was an instructor.”
They concluded that Rutledge would make a great nurse, so Brown let her go with just one caveat—leaving a simple request on the document: “Promise me you’ll go to scrubs or nursing school, and slow down, and I won’t. You’re a ticket.”
“She was so excited when she called to tell me about that ticket,” Guthrie recalled.
Rutledge enrolled in the surgical technology program at Beville State Community College in Jasper, Ala., shortly after his encounter with the soldier.
“As soon as he left, and as soon as I got to where I was going, I started pushing myself toward that career,” Rutledge told CBS. “And now here I am.”
As Rutledge graduated from the program last month, she wanted to include Brown in her memorable moment.
“I wanted him to see the impression he made on me. Five minutes, even if you don’t know them, talking to someone can have the biggest impact on their life,” Rutledge said.
The pair posed together, holding the document Brown wrote exactly two years before graduation.
Rutledge now works as a certified surgical technologist at UAB Hospital-Highlands in Birmingham — just over 40 minutes southeast of where she grew up.
“I really wanted to cry,” Rutledge said Fox 6 News.
“She’s made my whole career worth it,” Brown said.
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