Rhonda Lantz is 65 years old. For as long as she has been driving, she has not worn a seatbelt. It just wasn't something she did. Then one day, Officer Luis Valenzuela pulled her over. The officer wrote her a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. Lantz took Officer Valenzuela seriously and decided to begin buckling up.
10 days later, it happened. While on the highway, Lantz's tire blew. The car rolled over three times, the windshield shattered, and the body crumpled. Lantz had to be removed by emergency responders with the jaws of life. She was covered in bruises — one sits under her chin and she has a few stitches, but she has the most important thing: Her life.
It was the seatbelt she had once taken for granted that saved her life. Lantz believes it was Officer Valenzuela's wake-up call that spared her a worse fate.
"I rolled three times and landed on the left side,” Lantz told CBS. “Had he not given me that ticket, I would not be here today."
Officer Valenzuela and Lantz reunited for a photo together. The officer is happy that something as simple as handing out a ticket could save Lantz's life.
“It’s a great feeling to know that this enforcement stuff actually had resulted in saving someone’s life,” Officer Valenzuela said.
Please SHARE if you think Officer Valenzuela is Lantz's guardian angel!
