A North Carolina police officer recently helped a woman he pulled over for speeding after realizing her house was on fire.

Maiden Police Department Officer Jesse Freeman was on patrol Sunday, December 11, when he stopped Latishea Elmore for driving 65 mph in a 35-mph zone.

Elmore, who was not driving with a license at the time, had been headed to work when she got a call that her house in Cherryville was on fire. Right at that moment, Officer Freeman made the stop.

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

But Freeman immediately sent a sergeant to check on her house and confirmed it was indeed on fire.

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

He believes divine intervention led to the traffic stop that day.

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

Officers gave Elmore a ride home because she was too emotional to drive. Freeman then prayed for her and helped calm her down and prepare her for the worst.

Unfortunately, Elmore lost everything in the fire.

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

Freeman and his sergeant tried to sympathize with Elmore, sharing their own past experiences with house fires. The sergeant said his own home caught fire last Christmas Eve.

Elmore and Officer Freeman reunited days later and immediately hugged. She said she was grateful for the empathy he showed that day.

“He just let me know that everything was going to be OK,” she said.

“The only reason I entered this career is because I generally want to help people,” Freeman added.