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Officer Buys Stranded Dad Meal, Photo Goes Viral for Heartwarming Reason

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If you’ve ever had an accident or had to pull over to the side of the road because of car troubles, you know how stressful being stranded is.

Add financial troubles, and your time spent waiting for roadside assistance will be full of mental calculations and wondering where the funds are going to come from.

Richard Barber and his fiancée were on their way to pick up his child when they experienced some unfortunate car troubles. They pulled to the side of the road, but they were barely out of harm’s way.

Traffic on the highway barreled on around them, and Barber had little room to try to troubleshoot his car. He managed to determine that it was the timing belt that was giving him grief.

Fortunately, he had enough money to pay for a new part. Unfortunately, he had no way to get to the store to get the part, and the side of the busy interstate was not the place to repair his broken-down car.

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A cop pulled up behind them. Trooper Jason Blaney got out to see what the trouble was, then went back to his car. He made a few calls and then came back.

He told Barber that a tow truck would be there shortly. Barber was hesitant.

“Do you know roughly how much they’re going to charge?” he asked. But the cop responded, “Uh you don’t have to worry about that.”



Officer Blaney had seen that Barber was caught in a tricky situation. “He could fix his car if he had the ability to get his car to a safe place to do the work,” the officer said, according to WMBF, “but he said he only had enough money to get the parts.”

He also knew that if Barber could just get a helping hand, he’d be on the road again and headed to his kid.

“He basically handed me a one hundred dollar bill and said the tow is going to be $80, I’m taking care of it for you and the other $20 you can use to get something to eat,” Barber said. He was overcome with gratitude, especially because the officer didn’t know just how much the financial help meant to them.

“There were still other hidden things we hadn’t expressed to anyone. Nobody knew they were helping a homeless couple out,” Barber said. “It was just an amazing feeling.”



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“He needed it more than I did,” the humble cop said. “I usually don’t keep cash on me but that day was a little different so I felt I was in the position to help him out.”

Barber was able to get his car fixed, but then he wanted to give credit where credit was due. He took to Facebook with a photo of the officer and told his story.

“I had no idea it was going to take off like that. Everybody talks about how bad cops are and the good cops go unnoticed. I wanted to be one of the people who recognized this man for being good at his position as well as being an overall good person,” he said.

“I’m forever grateful. It just goes to show you, all around, there are good people out there.”

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