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CENTERVILLE — The woman appeared to be crying while standing next to her SUV just off the freeway.
Centerville police officer Rolynn Snow noticed her while pulling over a man for speeding Thursday morning. The driver stopped right behind the woman on the Parish Lane overpass, according to Centerville Assistant Police Chief Paul Child.
Snow issued the man a warning and quickly asked the woman if there was anything he could do to help, Child said.
“He learned she had just come off the freeway,” he said. “She’d been on the freeway and one of her tires had come apart on her vehicle, an older SUV, and had actually done some damage to the body of the vehicle. She was quite distraught.”
Alan Peterson, a UDOT employee, arrived on scene with an Incident Management Team truck after Snow called for assistance. Together they pulled out the spare tire and determined that since it was in bad shape as well, it wouldn’t be safe for the woman to drive alone.
She told Snow she didn't have any money for the tires and didn't know for sure what she was going to do.
–Assistant Police Chief Paul Child
They put the spare tire on and Snow followed the woman to the Tire Factory on Parrish Lane while she slowly drove her vehicle.
“It was a single mom,” Child said. “She told Snow she didn’t have any money for the tires and didn’t know for sure what she was going to do. She was late for a doctor’s appointment and he said, ‘We’ll see what we can work out.’”
When they arrived at the store, Child said Snow spoke with the manager and told him about the woman’s situation, offering to pay for used tires. However, the store manager said they would take care of it.
The woman left the store with two new tires, according to Child. He shared the story on the Centerville Police Department’s Facebook page and as of Friday afternoon, it had more than 24,000 likes and 1,900 shares.
“I was amazed,” he said. “I posted that thinking it was kind of a nice feel-good story, nothing too extreme but a nice story, and we ought to recognize the tire store and Officer Snow and Alan Peterson, so posted it from my iPhone down at their parking lot at the tire store and didn’t think much of it. It took off.”
Snow is a veteran officer who has been working with the department for many years, according to Child.
