Police officers are usually the first and only line of defense for most communities in America.
We the citizens rely on them to protect us and it is often a truly thankless job.
We at SmallJoys love to feature articles of brave and strong police officers going above and beyond the call to help those in need. This story is no exception, either as this police officer did something truly courageous to protect the innocent.
The story below tells of a brave police officer that risked his own life to protect the innocent he serves.
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It was the early morning hours of July 8th, before the sun had even begun to come over the horizon. As they were wrapping up their late night routes Arkansas state troopers were interrupted by an urgent emergency call: a drunk driver was spotted going the wrong direction on an interstate.
It was just past 3:30 AM when the call went up. Trooper First Class Roy Moomey decided he was going to go out and investigate the reports and make sure everything was okay. Drunk drivers are nothing new, but this call seemed especially dangerous at such late hours.
When Moomey arrived at the interstate he quickly spotted the suspect reported in the call. The car was most certainly speeding and going east in a westbound lane.
This driver was far more dangerous than a usual drunk driver and was putting every other driver on the highway in danger.
Not only was the driver intoxicated and speeding, but they were putting other drivers at a risk of a head-on collision. If the driver had a head-on collision at the speeds he was going, it would likely kill both drivers on impact. Not only that, but the end result would likely cause a pile-up putting even more lives in danger.
Now that Trooper Moomey has spotted this dangerous driver and understands the risk this driver poses to other innocent drivers, he had to make a tough judgment call. How would he react?
According to the website Officer.com, there is “no particular standard practice for intercepting a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the interstate.”
This means that it’s up to the police officer to determine how they wish to intercept a vehicle endangering drivers, based on the situation. This split-second decision making is what separates many newer police officers from veteran police officers.
Moomey noticed that the driver was speeding and that the stretch of road they were on was empty, so a pile-up was unlikely.
That’s when he decided to risk it all. State Trooper Moomey decided that he would risk his own life and collide his cruiser with the speeding drunk driver to prevent injuries to innocents.
As he counted the seconds before impact, Trooper Moomey knew that it was very possible that he would not emerge from the collision alive.
Moomey knew that this was part of the job, that he would have to risk his own life to protect the lives of his fellow community members.
However God had blessed him and he was able to survive the crash.
The drunk driver was identified as Michael Choate who was 24 at the time. Unfortunately, he was killed in the collision, but Trooper Moomey did what he knew would save the most lives.
As you can see from the pictures above, Moomey’s cruiser was totaled from the collision.
The entire front end of the car was flattened, with the airbags deployed and the entire vehicle looks like it’s been through a trash compactor!
It’s incredible that Trooper Moomey was able to survive the car crash, let alone as well as he did.
Trooper Moomey was most certainly blessed when he decided to take the risk and sacrifice that could’ve been.
When he arrived at the hospital he was in serious but stable condition. The doctors put him through a number of surgeries that allowed him to live and recover from his injuries. Still, it’s an absolute miracle he was able to survive.
And then just a mere two weeks after his act of heroism, he was well enough to talk and meet with visitors in his hospital bed. A truly miraculous recovery! Trooper Moomey was even visited by the Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchison.
This isn’t Trooper Moomey’s first heroic act either he saved a man from a burning vehicle and was awarded a Lifesaving Award back in May of 2015.
It is very likely that Moomey will receive many more awards for his heroic act in saving countless lives.
However the biggest focus for him should be recovering from his injuries so he can be back up on his feet as soon as possible!
Moomey has already begun physical therapy for some of his injuries, but he still has way more work ahead of himself before he will be able to go on the job again. If you wish, you could donate to a GoFundMe set up for him to help pay for his medical bills.