Texas trooper secretly pays for 92-year-old woman’s tires

RICHMOND, Texas. (WVLT/KHOU) -A 92-year-old Texas woman finally got to say ‘thank you’ to the trooper who paid for her tires.

KHOU reported that a Texas State Trooper paid for 92-year-old Mary Summers’ tires last week. The woman reportedly went to Integrity Tires after one of her car tires caught a flat from a nail.

A mechanic named Omar Oregueda was helping Summers, explaining that she would have to get a whole new set of tires.

“The tire on her vehicle wasn’t repairable and the other tires were shot,” Oregueda said. “They were already completely destroyed.”

The mechanic told Summers her tires were unsafe and that she would have to pay more than $600 for a new set.

The woman said the price was more than she could afford.

“I said, ‘Well, I can’t do all the tires. I can just do the one,’" Summers said. “'Just tell me much the one is going to be.'”

Summers said she did not realize there was a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper sitting right behind her, waiting for his oil change to be finished.

In a video captured from the store’s surveillance camera, you can see the trooper contemplating his next move. He can then be seen moments later getting up, walking up to the counter and leaving the store.

Soon after, Oregueda tells Summers he can replace all of her tires.

“He said, 'They’re paid for and everything.’ And I said, ‘Who paid for it?’ And he said, ‘The trooper that was in here.’ And I can hardly talk about it now because I want to cry because he did that. And he did it, and he left.”

The video shows Summers sitting in disbelief as she replays in her mind what just happened. She says her only regret is that she never got a chance to say thank you.

Trooper Drew Stoner said he didn’t pay for the tires for any sort of recognition, he said something in his gut told him to do it.

“I’m thinking, ‘What if she goes out on the road and a tire goes out on her (or) kind of falls apart on her, and she’s on the side of the road?’” Stoner said.

After being able to identify the trooper, Summers was finally able to meet him through a surprise setup.

“I’m just so thankful for you, and I’m so proud,” Summers told him after they hugged and chatted. “I’m proud to meet someone that has a heart that big. I just love you to death.”

After the trooper bought the tires, Oregueda did Summers’ oil change for free.

“For a stranger to take care of another stranger like that ... let’s all just take care of each other,” Oregueda said. "That’s what it’s about.”

Copyright 2020 WVLT via KHOU. All rights reserved.