It's not the kind of thanks deputies get every day. A Jensen Beach woman went out of her way, however, to show one Martin County Sheriff's deputy her appreciation after he arrested her for drug possession.
It was the first time Brianna Byrnes and Deputy Justin Albauer had seen each other since Last August, when he pulled her over and she had paraphernalia and heroin in her Jeep.
RELATED: More good news stories
Byrnes worked with the Martin County Sheriff's Office to arrange a one-year reunion, so she could thank the deputy she says saved her life.
"This addiction would have killed me," Byrnes told reporters.
RELATED: Get the free WPTV app for breaking news, alerts | Follow WPTV on Facebook
A South Florida native, Byrnes says she struggled with drug addiction for 18 years.
She says earlier on the day Deputy Albauer pulled her over, she and her mother had been making calls to different rehab clinics. She says they called nearly 50, all of which were full.
When she was pulled over, Byrnes says, "I told him I was trying to get into detox and needed to get a bed. This is not how I wanted it to end, but that's how it needed to end."
Byrnes says the arrest saved her life. She spent a few hours in jail, then 46 days in rehab. She says she's been clean ever since.
"You were so respectful that night," Byrnes told Albauer. "You didn't judge me for what I was going through, and you listened to me. You actually believed in me, that I could do it. And I'm forever grateful to you."
Deputy Albauer says in five years of working for the Martin County Sheriff's Office, this is the first time he's ever been thanked. But he doesn't take any of the credit.
"From getting clean to being honest in the traffic stop, it's all her," he said.
