Man Stunned When Trooper Hands Him Two Giftcards Instead of Ticket After Being Pulled Over
It’s the old bait-and-switch: Someone leads you to believe one thing, and then they suddenly reveal it’s not what you thought at all. Many times the reveal is negative, and you realize you’ve been scammed or taken advantage of.
But in this case, it turned out positive. When Chilton, Wisconsin, resident Lance Van Dyke was pulled over by a state trooper, he steeled himself for the same unsavory spiel he’d experienced before.
“I was rude because the only reason he pulled me over was because of my window tint and I just felt like, here we go again my window tint,” he told WBAY. “And anybody who has window tint, they know how I’m feeling.”
The trooper addressed the tinted windows, but instead of giving Van Dyke a ticket, he gave him a warning — and something else. Van Dyke posted his experience on Facebook after the incident.
“Please share,” he wrote on Facebook. “As much as I was disappointed for being pulled over I couldn’t have anything but respect for this Wisconsin state trooper. His kindness was very pleasant.
“He definitely noticed I’ve had a few bad run in with the police and offered a kind gesture with these gift cards. So what I’ve taken here is. Treat every situation different don’t be so quick to judge.
“Thank you Logan for your kindness much respect and happy holidays ? to you and your family.”
The two gift cards were $10 to KwikTrip and the same for Walmart. The officer is participating in the “Lights of Christmas” program that made these small-but-welcome gifts possible.
“The Lights of Christmas program is basically a cooperative effort between the community and businesses and law enforcement to donate items to people in need around the holidays need,” Trooper Scott Reignier explained.
Van Dyke, who described himself as 50 percent supporting the police has changed his perspective and is now urging people to be a little more generous in their assessments of law enforcement.
“I feel like if we take the time to appreciate them a little more and understand they have hearts too and they have families that sometimes we can be a little bit more respectful in what they do in their job and the kind of stuff they have to deal with on a daily basis,” he said.
“I asked to take the pic with him out of respect too his kindness,” he concluded. “Don’t be so afraid of law enforcement there (sic) human just as we are ??♂️♥️?”
The kindness kept going, too, as Van Dyke gifted one of the cards.
“I actually gave the $10 to my sister because she’s struggling a little more right now than I am, so from one kind person to another kind person I handed it off to a person who could use it a little more.”
Thanks to this positive interaction, Van Dyke has changed his own attitude and hopefully, his post will help change other people’s attitudes, too.
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