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For many police officers, broken-down cars are probably part of everyday life - but this case should stick in the mind of a so-called state trooper from the US state of Connecticut: 35-year-old Lukasz Lipert met the ex-president of his native Poland, Lech Wałęsa.
The 78-year-old's vehicle had a flat tire on Highway 84 near Hartford.
According to the police, state troopers were called to the broken-down SUV on Wednesday.
When they got there, they recognized the co-driver with the distinctive mustache as a Nobel laureate and former Polish president.
"You never know who you'll meet as a state trooper," the police wrote on Facebook.
Wałęsa became an icon of resistance to communist rule in the 1980s.
The electrician from the port city of Gdansk became leader of the Solidarność trade union and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his peaceful protest.
In the first democratic elections in Poland after the fall of the Iron Curtain, he was then elected President.
Lipert "was more than grateful for the opportunity to help such an influential person and to have a brief chat with him about the history of Poland," police wrote on Facebook.
"It was definitely a great opportunity to meet the man who had an important voice in these times," Lipert told the Hartford Courant newspaper.
According to the police, Wałęsa was in the USA to organize help for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
In Connecticut, where many people of Polish and Ukrainian descent live, he met Governor Ned Lamont, among others.
After the tire was changed, Wałęsa was able to continue his journey.
bbr/AFP