A bad experience
Have you ever encountered yourself in a situation that you wanted to go perfect, but everything just appears to go against you?
Sometimes when you get an encounter with a cop, it goes like that, but for Chy-Niece Thacker, this story was worth telling; what the cop didn’t know was that she was recording him all along...
A Big Day for Chy-Niece Thacker
We all have had those important and specific dates where you need things to go your way. It might be your wedding day, or the day you start in a new job or when you have a crucial meeting; for Chy- Niece Thaker, it was one of those days.
On September 1st, 2017, Chy-Niece had a really important job interview, and she expected and planned every step for it to go well; but she surely wasn’t counting on what happened to her while driving to her interview.
Motivated mom
Chyle-Niece Thacker woke up on September 1st, feeling happy and motivated. Excited for what's to come, she woke up needing to be ready for the remarkable day she was hoping to have.
As a young mom, it was a priority for her not only to have a good day but to crush that job interview and impress the interviewer. She certainly didn’t expect how the day would turn out to be!
Her morning
For that reason, she woke up, made herself a nutritious breakfast, and started to get ready physically and internally for the interview: she wanted to take the opportunity to make a good impression.
Which is why, she wore one of her best formal and business outfits and did her favorite makeup, even rehearsing some of the possible answers to the interview questions so she could have time to think of good ones. As she expected everything to go as planned, her luck (or destiny) didn’t!
Seemingly “Normal” drive
When you have this kind of day, when you need everything to go perfectly: you double-check everything and take the time to drive extra-safe, take super safe turns, and put your belt correctly.
Precisely, all of these are what Chy-Niece did as she got into her car to go to the interview, but when you are driving, you also expose yourself to a lot of things you can’t control...
Can’t Control
In your day-to-day activities, you can only control your actions, but you certainly can’t control other people’s actions, or even your luck sometimes decides to go against your wishes, and you can’t get a say on it.
While Chy-Niece thought she was acting right and also doing everything on her power, a cop disagreed. What he told her might shock you!!!
Not Perfect
As much as she wanted that day to go perfectly, as a human, she didn’t notice that she was a driving danger. Usually, when you drive, you are exposed to cops itching to give a ticket, and if you are not careful enough you might get pulled over or get a ticket over it, especially if you are doing something potentially dangerous.
It was only a matter of time for her to encounter a cop that would change the rest of her day.
Danger
Knowingly or not, when she stopped in a stop sign or red light when she took turns or when she drove into the highway Chy-Niece was putting herself and a lot of people in danger.
She overlooked something very important and it was just about time that someone noticed, otherwise she could be causing a terrible accident. That’s when she had one of the most beyond-belief experiences of her life.
A scary light
Picture this: a happy and confident woman, driving and not knowing what was going on, looks at her rearview mirror and sees it: red and blue lights flashing in her. She immediately knew that it was a police officer and that he wanted her to pull over.
Slowly, Chy-Niece started panicking, scared of not being able to make it to the interview, she figured she needed to play her cards right, but certainly didn’t expect what happened next.
Pulled Over
She immediately pulled over, half hurried and wanting to get along with it, and half worried about why the cop pulled her over she thought that she was driving just fine and that he didn’t have any reason that she could remember to make her stop. But a thing was clear: she needed that encounter to go in her favor.
An idea came to her mind in an attempt to accomplish it, as she reached for something in her glove compartment. Still wondering, what made the Police Officer pull her over, even more so, on such an important day for her.
Not your normal encounter
"As he walked to the car and I was pulling out my stuff, he quickly said, 'Don't worry about pulling anything out. I just want you to know that your brake lights are out,'" Thacker posted on Facebook Friday morning.
If you’ve ever had an encounter or been pulled over by a Police Officer, you’ll know this isn’t standard procedure. The Officer’s attitude made Chy-Niece suspicious that something else might have been going on and you won't believe what Officer Jenkins did next.
An unpleasant surprise
As Officer Jenkins said that, Chy-Niece quickly realized that something was going on. How would the brake lights be not working? She had just taken her car for maintenance at a local “Firestone” Shop.
This is when Chy-Niece started to believe there was foul play involved in this situation, not related to Officer Jenkins, but the reason she got pulled over. Even though she had taken her car for maintenance, she had refused to take an expensive “wiring test” which seemed more like a ploy than a potential problem with her car. As she told her story to the Police Officer, you’ll never believe what happened next.
Not just a ticket
As Chy-Niece tried to explain officer Jenkins the situation with a shady car shop and how they were trying to get extra bucks from a customer that didn’t know much about cars, she realized officer Jenkins understood something was going on.
She explained in an interview with WTVR CBS 6, she saw the shocked look on his face when she told him the story with the auto shop. This made her feel a bit of relief, knowing that she hadn’t taken the wrong decision that day. But what he said next, made her forget that small sense of relief she felt.
Pop the Trunk
When she finished telling her story, immediately Officer Jenkins asked her to step out of the vehicle and pop the trunk. We can only imagine what might have been going through her head as soon as she heard that command from the Officer.
But Chy-Niece knew she was a law abiding citizen and she didn’t want to cause any drama or end up showing up in the news, afterall, she was driving to a job interview, and it just so might be easier to explain why you were late than explaining why you showed up in local news in a situation evolving law enforcement. When she went to pop the trunk, Officer Jenkins stopped following the Police manual and awed with his actions.
Police Officer by day, mechanic by night?
With every precaution, Chy-Niece popped the trunk and kept recording the officer and what he was doing. But, she quickly realized he wasn’t just searching her trunk for any illegal objects, he definitely was tinkering with the brake lights.
When she realized he was trying to get her lights working again, she told him that she was panicked when he started to pull her over but he said: “I care more about your safety than giving you a ticket. I don’t want anyone running into the back of you.”, what he did after was even more surprising...
Might as well just do it
It hadn’t fully dawned on Chy-Niece what was going on, when she saw Officer Jenkins go on “full mechanic mode”, as he was going around the car, checking the lights, checking the brake pedal and even the fuse box of the car. Officer Jenkins hadn’t been able to get them up and running again. Naturally, Chy-Niece was growing worried.
Maybe her car was too old and damaged, but this didn’t stop officer Jenkins. She told Fox news “He could’ve easily given me a ticket, but Officer Jenkins stepped out of the officer role and into the mechanic role to make sure I was straight.” Despite the officer’s good intentions, would she make it to the interview?
Her big day just kept getting bigger
Not only Chy-Niece was on the receiving end of a huge act of kindness from Officer Jenkins, getting her lights to work and not only that, helping Chy-Niece and other drivers stay safe and out of trouble.
But Chy-Niece was also able to make her interview on time and more importantly safe and sound! Chy-Niece did perfectly on her interview, so began working at the University of Phoenix as a correctional program support person. But she wouldn’t forget what had gone on that morning, deciding to make a special tribute to the Officer who helped her.
A special thank you note
The surprising act of kindness of Officer Jenkins had stuck with Chy-Niece all day, so much in fact, that later that day when she came back home, she decided to go on her social media and tell her family, friends and followers what had gone on that day.
It's definitely not common for a cop to go the extra mile every day, and Chy-Niece shared her entire story with suspense in mind. She slowly constructed it, making others believe that she was in serious trouble as the blue and red lights started to flash. When they all finished reading her message, though, they understood what a fine person Officer Jenkins was, and a particular reaction to her post made everyone turn heads.
A message from the Police
TThe thankful post from Chy-Niece quickly blew up with shares and kind comments. People were surprised by such an act of kindness. That being said, Chy-Niece was really touched by one comment in particular. During the influx of comments, Chy-Niece was praised and thanked by the Henrico County police department.
The Henrico County police department commented on her post “Thank you Chy-Niece Thacker for sharing this about one of our officers. We are so proud of our officers, especially when we see citizens share things like this. Above and beyond the call of duty, Officer Jenkins. Service to our community is what it’s all about.” This specific comment would end up taking their story of kindness to the next level.
National News
Usually we see grim and dark situations evolving law enforcement on national news, making this story almost one of a kind. This is why Chy-Niece’s story rapidly became viral and blew up all major news broadcasters, including Fox and NBC, who featured this story that involved such an act of kindness.
Officer Jenkins is just one story, which reveals that there's a lot of outstanding police officers out there and this is a perfect example. Police Officers who aren't looking for reasons just to hand out tickets or arrest you, but instead trying to protect and serve the community.
Where are they now
Years later, Chy-Niece 's life had changed enormously. She doesn't have the job she applied all those years ago, but she does something more in line with her aspirations. At the moment she works as a career mentor at UMFS, an organization that gives young people and families the resources to resolve certain significant challenges.
Officer Jenkins continues to work out his duty to serve and protect the nice people of Henrico County, Virginia. So the people can only hope for the future that the love and generosity of this Police Officer will become contagious for other policemen.