It’s rare that someone who gets pulled over by a police officer thanks them for potentially saving their life, but after Minnesota State Trooper Keenan Jones pulled Jake Bosacker over in 2017, Bosacker was extremely grateful.
Although it’s been several years since that day, the two have formed an unlikely friendship, one that Bosacker hopes will continue to grow.
Bosacker had moved back in with his parents in Minnesota during the summer of 2017. He had plans to put the college lifestyle he had been living in Texas behind him. The 21-year-old wanted to get sober and get a job, but his first night home he found himself at a bar with his old friends.
In the early morning hours of September 9, Bosacker attempted to make his way home, but he was impaired.
Jones was working that evening and he had already arrested two other drivers for drunk driving.
“For a second there, I was like, ‘I’m tired, I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to get one more, I don’t want to do this paperwork’,” Jones said, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
“Because usually that time in the shift, that one more is the most trouble. People aren’t happy, there are fights…but it wasn’t in me to let it go. So out of good faith, I had to go investigate.”
When Jones spotted the 21-year-old he was “weaving all over the place,” and when he finally pulled him over, he discovered Bosacker was “covered in blood.”
Bosacker smelled of alcohol and appeared extremely distressed. He believed his life was over. He had dreams of becoming a police officer, but now they were ruined.
Jones said there was something “totally different” about Bosacker, so he took the time to comfort him and explain his dream wasn’t over.
“[Jones] comforted me and he said that my life isn’t over, and that there might be some work that needs to be done, but the journey can start tonight,” Bosacker said. “I don’t remember specific words that he told me, but I just remember how he made me feel.”
“Speaking to you in my squad car, it was a pretty emotional time, but there’s never an end to a dream that you have. I felt that you were a good person with a good heart,” Jones said of Bosacker.
Now, Bosacker is sober, married, and lives in Texas.
Recently, the two were able to connect so Bosacker would thank him for inspiring him.
“Thank you for saving my life that night, and possibly somebody else’s,” he said.
Meanwhile Jones said Bosacker also inspired him to keep reaching for his dreams.
“That’s what I’m in this job to do is help be the best person I can be while making somebody else better.”
I want to hear more stories like this about our police officers!
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