She told the Alabama state trooper who pulled her over (J.T. Brown) 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.

it’s been awhile, but I can finally post a good news story, and share a news article with a cool cop. Seriously, I look for these every day, and it’s rare to find these stories.