An Alabama woman revealed that a life-changing 15-minute conversation with a compassionate state trooper during a traffic stop inspired her to pursue a new career.
Alabama State Trooper J.T. Brown busted Abbie Rutledge for speeding on a Birmingham highway but, instead of giving her a ticket, he offered her some life-changing advice in August 2022.
“I think it was the right person, right time, and the right words said,” Rutledge told CBS News on Friday.
Rutledge, then 20 years old, told Brown she was working as a full-time driver for Coca-Cola and was nervous about how she’d pay for the ticket without a lot of money in her bank account.
The pair discussed various potential career paths Rutledge could take throughout their conversation, lasting between 10 and 15 minutes.
“He challenged her to find a career and work toward it,” Rutledge’s mother Tammy Guthrie said on Facebook. “As they talked she realized Officer Brown had completed the Surgical Tech Program at Bevill State in 2013 where her mom was an instructor.”
They concluded that Rutledge would make a great nurse so Brown let her off with just a warning — leaving a simple request on the document: “Promise me you’ll go to scrub or nursing school, and slow down, and I won’t give you 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 Bevill State Community College in Jasper, Ala. shortly after her encounter with the trooper.
“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 I’m here.”
As Rutledge graduated from the program last month, she desperately wanted Brown to be included in her memorable moment.
“I wanted him to see the impression he made on me. Five minutes, talking to anybody even if you don’t know them, could make the largest impact of their life,” Rutledge said.
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The pair posed together holding the document that Brown had written exactly two years before the 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 told Fox 6 News.
“She made my entire career worth it,” Brown said.
