AUGUSTA, Maine — Briana Corriveau was driving to get food on her lunch break Saturday when she noticed blue lights behind her.
“I saw the speed limit sign and it said 25 mph, I looked down and I was doing 48,” Corriveau said. “I thought, ‘oh no’.”
She quickly pulled over in the nearest parking lot. Corriveau told the Augusta police officer she wasn’t from the area but knew she had broken the law by speeding – he ended up writing her a ticket.
That’s when she noticed her tire pressure light was on.
“I ran over the curb driving into the parking lot because I was so nervous,” Corriveau laughed. “I popped my tire, it was completely flat.”
Corriveau says the officer told her to forget about the ticket and instead, helped her get her car towed to the nearest VIP. After that, she says the officer brought her back to work.
“He tried to apologize for how everything happened, I was like ‘no, I broke the law – you were just doing your job’,” Corriveau said.
After her shift, Corriveau’s manager drove her back to VIP to pick up her car and two new tires. When she went to pay for everything the employee told her it had been taken care of. Officer Paradis, with Augusta PD had picked up the tab for her.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Corriveau said. “I’m a single mom, he has no idea how much this means to me.”
Like many, Corriveau says she found herself without a job due to the Coronavirus pandemic. She found work at the Applebee’s in Augusta last month and commutes from her apartment in Farmington.
“The tires were $200,” Corriveau said. “That’s a quarter of my rent, that’s almost half my car payment – I can’t thank him enough and I wish him and his family all the best.”
Corriveau shared her story on Facebook and the post has already been shared more than 1,000 times.
Hear more from Corriveau Thursday on NEWS CENTER Maine.
