Birmingham, Alabama — When those blue lights appeared in the rearview mirror of her car about two years ago, then 20-year-old Abbie Rutledge knew she had done the wrong thing at the wrong place and time. But that all changed after she spoke to the trooper who pulled her over.

"I think it was the right person, right time, and the right words said," Rutledge said.

She told J.T. Brown — the Alabama state trooper who pulled her over in August 2022 for speeding — that she couldn't afford a ticket. She was broke and in a dead-end job. 

"And I told her, I said, 'Well, how about we talk about it then,'" Brown told CBS News. 

Rutledge said their conversation "went on for about" 10 to 15 minutes, "just talking about different career paths."

Their conclusion was that Rutledge would make a great nurse. So Brown let her off with just a warning. And on it he wrote, "Promise me you'll go to scrub or nursing school, and slow down, and I won't give you a ticket."

However, Brown said he "never" imagined that she would take it as seriously as she did.

"As soon as he left, and as soon as I got to where I was going, I started pushing myself toward that career," Rutledge said. "And now I'm here."

Rutledge graduated last month from the two-year surgical technology program at Bevill State Community College in Jasper, Alabama.

She now works as a surgical technician at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital. She says she loves her new job and gives full credit to Brown, who attended her graduation.

"I wanted him to see the impression he made on me," Rutledge said. "Five minutes talking to anybody, even if you don't know them, can make the largest impact of their life, ever…You never know when it could happen."

Brown went above and beyond asking for license and registration when he provided guidance and motivation to Rutledge. By taking the advice written on that warning, Rutledge not only helped herself, but she also returned the exact same favor.

"She made my entire career worth it," Brown said. 

In:
• Alabama