By P1 Staff
BATON ROUGE, La. — The day before the deadly ambush on police in Baton Rouge, a deputy critically wounded in the attack went above and beyond the call of duty for a woman in need of help.
James Tullier, the father of East Baton Rouge’s Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Tullier, shared the deputy’s story via Facebook on August 2.
After Nick’s July 16 shift, he began driving home when he saw a woman with small children on the side of the road. She had a flat tire. Nick stopped to render aid.
“For whatever reason, Nick took the spare tire out of his sheriff’s car and put it on the lady’s vehicle,” his father wrote. “He then followed her all the way back to her home in Baton Rouge making sure she and the kids got home safe. With help Nick then took his spare tire back off the lady’s car and returned it to his unit.”
The next day while Nick’s family was at the hospital, his fiancee told them of the woman and the flat tire.
“We all wondered how we would ever find or meet this lady,” the post read.
Days later at the funeral of fallen Officer Montrell Jackson, a man called James over and asked him if he knew about Nick changing a lady’s flat tire the night before the shooting. He said yes, and the man proceeded to introduce the woman standing next to him. It was the woman Deputy Tullier helped. She was the niece of Jackson’s wife.
“Chills went through me. This was flat out unbelievable,” James wrote. “She hugged me and I hugged her while she went on and on thanking me for what my son had done to help her. She told me the same story that Nick’s fiancé had said to the family. Nick to her was a life-saver and a hero. But that’s always been in his heart to help in times of need.
“Our Nick didn’t see color. What he saw was a lady in need and small children there too. His heart told him he had to stop and give assistance to a fellow human being. That’s our Nick.”
The Facebook post has more than 23,000 likes and over 11,000 shares.