{"id":3601,"date":"2022-06-14T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T14:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=3601"},"modified":"2022-06-14T11:34:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T15:34:07","slug":"watch-as-police-officer-prays-with-man-battling-cancer-during-traffic-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/06\/watch-as-police-officer-prays-with-man-battling-cancer-during-traffic-stop.html","title":{"rendered":"Watch as Police Offer Prays With Man Battling Cancer During Traffic Stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, a powerful scene unfolded: a North Carolina trooper pulled a driver over for speeding. Instead of giving them a ticket, the officer prayed with a man fighting cancer. A photo of the encounter has since gone viral, showing North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Jaret Doty leaning into a car as he and Anthony \u201cTony\u201d Geddis, who was battling colon cancer, closed their eyes to pray together.<\/p>\n

Ashlye Wilkerson, Geddis\u2019 39-year-old daughter, and the car\u2019s driver captured the heartwarming interaction. The image spread throughout social media after Geddis died on May 22nd<\/sup> and his daughter posted the photo along with a tribute to her dad on social media. She told CNN, \u201cIt was a really beautiful moment for me to see this take place between my dad and the officer.\u201d Doty\u2019s and Geddis\u2019 paths came together on March 28th<\/sup> as Wilkerson drove her father home to South Carolina after receiving chemotherapy treatments at Duke University.<\/p>\n

Wilkerson realized she was speeding when she saw the officer\u2019s lights coming up behind her, so she pulled over and waited. Little did she know it would be anything but a routine stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am, do you know what speed you were doing?\u201d Doty said. \u201cI\u2019m going to need your license and registration.\u201d That\u2019s when Geddis, fatigued from treatment and barely able to speak, defended his daughter and told the cop she was driving him home from chemo. Doty took Wilkerson\u2019s license and registration back to his car.<\/p>\n

This was when things turned quite interesting, as Doty was gone for a long time. The family wondered what was taking so long. \u201cAt that time, I knew there is no way I\u2019m writing this lady a ticket,\u201d Doty\u00a0told WSOC-TV<\/a>. \u201cI had to sit in [my car] for a while just to compose myself to figure out what to say when I went back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ashlye
Ashlye WIlkerson\/LinkedIn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Little did Wilkerson or Geddis know, but Doty, too, had his own health struggles in the past that left him feeling as though he was dying. The officer\u00a0had immediately noticed\u00a0Geddis was in pain when he approached the car and hearing that Geddis had cancer brought Doty back to his struggles with ulcerative colitis and the removal of part of his colon.<\/p>\n

As Doty sat in his patrol car, he made a powerful decision: he would return to the car and pray with Geddis. So, he walked back with an unexpected request for the family. \u201cCan I pray for you?\u201d Doty asked, to which Geddis agreed and proclaimed, \u201cI absolutely believe in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkerson also revealed that Doty gave her dad a \u201csmall silver cross\u201d to symbolize his faith. It was one of those small moments in life that is brief and fleeting yet leaves a massive impact. The emotional encounter meant a lot to the family. Wilkerson later wrote about it on social media. Though she didn\u2019t have the officer\u2019s name, she publicly thanked him.<\/p>\n

After her tribute went viral, Doty, who had no idea the photo was taken, learned about the image, the viral post, and Geddis\u2019 death, and now he\u2019s speaking out. The cop said he doesn\u2019t want notoriety or attention for the kind moment of prayer and that he often speaks to God about those he encounters in his work.<\/p>\n

Doty told CNN that this was the first time he\u2019s ever verbally requested and prayed for somebody out loud on the interstate. The Wilkerson family is grateful as well. Ashlye says the cop could\u2019ve acted differently, but he chose compassion and faith after pulling her over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, a powerful scene unfolded: a North Carolina trooper pulled a driver over for speeding. Instead of giving them a ticket, the officer prayed with a man fighting cancer. A photo of the encounter has since gone viral, showing North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Jaret Doty leaning into a car as he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":3610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-3601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prayer","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nWatch as Police Offer Prays With Man Battling Cancer During Traffic Stop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In March of this year, NCSHP Trooper Doty pulled over Ashlye Wilkerson for speeding. Now a photo of the incident has gone viral for good reason.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watch as Police Offer Prays With Man Battling Cancer During Traffic Stop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In March of this year, NCSHP Trooper Doty pulled over Ashlye Wilkerson for speeding. Now a photo of the incident has gone viral for good reason.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/06\/watch-as-police-officer-prays-with-man-battling-cancer-during-traffic-stop.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-14T14:24:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-14T15:34:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2022\/06\/Ashlye__.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"718\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Watch as Police Offer Prays With Man Battling Cancer During Traffic Stop","description":"In March of this year, NCSHP Trooper Doty pulled over Ashlye Wilkerson for speeding. 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