Officer helps woman caught speeding after learning her house was on fire

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Maiden police officer went out of his way to help a woman he pulled over for speeding Sunday, because she had just learned that her home was on fire.

The encounter led to the two of them being reunited on Tuesday.

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Latishea Elmore was happy to see Officer Jesse Freeman, who pulled her over for speeding.

“If there were more police officers like him, the world would be a better place,” Elmore said.

Officer helps woman caught speeding after learning house on fire

Sunday morning the single mother of four left an empty house on her way to work.

She got a phone call that her home in Cherryville was on fire.

“I worked hard for everything I have in that house,” she said.

Elmore quickly turned around, driving up to 60 mph in a 35 mph zone.

Freeman stopped her in Maiden.

“I believe God set our encounter in motion that morning,” he said. “I could just see in her eyes that something just wasn’t right.”

Elmore didn’t have her license and explained what had happened as she feared the worst.

“I just knew it was over for me,” she said. “I’m like, they are not going to believe me. They probably think I’m making up something to not go to jail.”

Freeman’s sergeant arrived and they confirmed her home was on fire.

Freeman said that as a child, his home was destroyed by a fire just before Christmas.

The sergeant with him also had his house burned on Christmas eve of last year. They police officers understood what she was going through.

“The only right decision was to let her go,” Freeman said.

He said Elmore was too emotional to drive so the officers gave her a ride to a relative’s house.

Freeman prayed for her and tried to keep her calm.

Elmore walked into the charred house Tuesday.