On July 17, troopers from Alamance County, North Carolina responded to a call of a woman who ran out of gas.
Betty Mann is in her seventies.
She was driving from Waynesville to her hometown of Newport, North Carolina when her car, still new to her, ran out of gas along I-85 in Alamance County.
She had planned to pull off the highway soon enough to get gas but the inevitable happened.
As she pulled over to the side of the road, she remembered the number for the highway patrol.
Now it’s not uncommon for the North Carolina State Highway patrol to respond to motorists who find themselves in trouble
But this time it was different.
Betty called the number and soon, troopers arrived. Trooper Linch sat with Mann in her car while his partner, Kelly Coggins, drove off to get gas for the elderly lady.
He came back soon and as he was filling up her tank, they asked Betty if she had eaten.
Mann says she hadn’t so the nice troopers invited her to lunch as they were meeting colleagues soon after.
They soon got to the restaurant where troopers Linch, Coggins, Foster, and Gibbs told the waitress that they would pay for Betty’s meal.
It’s usually the other way around, with ordinary civilians paying for the officers’ orders but this time, the men wanted to do the opposite for Mann.
But much to the surprise of the troopers, they found out that someone else had paid for all their orders.
Coggins said that while he and his fellow troopers often respond to calls of people running out of gas or with dead batteries on a daily basis, they usually don’t have time to wait with that person or spend much time getting to know them, as they have to respond to other calls.
But this time, it worked out. They were able to spend extra time to help Mann out.
“We want people to know that we’re approachable, that we’re human just like everybody else,” Coggins said. “We do try to go above and beyond to help as much as we can.”
Betty was super thankful and touched that these guys went out of their way to help her and took her to lunch.
“That was just absolutely, over and above anything that a woman could expect on the highway,” she said. “… I’m so thankful, so very thankful, that we have guys out there on the highway that are willing to take a few moments to take care of elderly people.”
Andrea King Lowe was there. She captured the moment and posted the photo on Facebook which got over 3,000 likes and hearts with over 5.6k shares.
Mann and the troopers went viral, touching the hearts of all who read the story while inspiring others as well.
No one wants to experience car trouble on the road. No one.
For Betty though, it was an experience she’ll never forget.
Let’s hope the troopers taught her everything she needed to know about her new car too.
Click on the video below for this wonderful encounter!
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