TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A driver who was pulled over for speeding but let off with a warning earlier this year in Hillsborough County paid it forward by donating the money she would have had to pay for the ticket fine to a memorial for a fallen deputy.
Hillsborough County Deputy Kevin Baker pulled the driver over on Feb. 15. According to the sheriff’s office, the driver was going 15 mph over the limit.
The fine for a ticket would have been $253, but Deputy Baker let the driver go with a warning based on her driving record, the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
Several months later, in April, Deputy Baker said he received a card from the driver he had pulled over. The post on the sheriff’s office page said the card came with a check for $253 to go toward a memorial fund for Pinellas County Deputy Michael Magli. Deputy Magli was killed in the line of duty in February while trying to stop a suspected drunk driver.
In the card, the driver thanked Deputy Baker for the warning he gave back in February.
“I am mindful. Coffee or donuts seemed inadequate, therefore, please accept this check for Officer Magli fund, from neighboring Pinellas County who died tragically serving,” the driver wrote.
In its Facebook post, the sheriff’s office thanked the driver for the card and the gesture.
“Not only have you put a big smiles on the faces of #teamHCSO, but our brothers and sisters at Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as well,” it said. “A hero remembered never dies.”
