(WHDH) — A police officer in Ohio penned an open letter to a teen he recently caught speeding and shared it on Facebook with the hope of making young drivers realize that they are not invincible.
The teen was stopped for driving 100 mph in a 65 mph zone, according to post on the North Ridgeville Police Department’s Facebook page.
The officer shared a photo of the speeding ticket that he issued, along with an emotional description of the incident.
“I’d like to believe that you were minutes away from creating an unspeakable Christmas tragedy when I stopped you,” he wrote. “If not only killing yourself, you were well on your way to killing some innocent person who was minding their own business doing nothing else wrong but being in front of you.”
The officer noted that the teen said he “didn’t realize” how fast he was going and that he was “visibly shaking and breathing hard.”
He also wrote about many car wrecks that he’s experienced in his career.
“I can tell you dozens of stories of dead and broken 18-year-old bodies that I’ve pulled from cars,” he wrote. “Broken bodies that I’ve found in front yards after crashes. Unrecognizable bodies. They thought they were invincible too. They weren’t.”
The officer described the teen as a “really nice kid” who happened to “make a bad decision.”
The letter came to a close with one request by the officer: “Slow down. Please. You are not invincible. I promise.”
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