Natalie Neysa Alund

nalund@tennessean.com

There they were, standing outside their broken-down SUV on the side of Interstate 40 Wednesday with no help in sight.

Six family members traveling through Nashville to an out-of-state funeral, with pennies to spare and a serious problem at mile marker 194.

"We was on our way to Trumann, Arkansas to bury one of my best friends," said Thomas Washburn of Tifton, Ga. who was passing through Music City with his fiance, infant granddaughter, 11-year-old son, 16-year-old daughter and future son-in-law. "We was about four hours away when our engine blew up."

It was 8 a.m., the SUV's AC was now shot, and the temperature had already skyrocketed to more than 80 degrees.

Washburn feared the worst.

"It was unbearably hot at that time of the morning," said Washburn, 34. "We were trying to keep our 1-year-old granddaughter as cool the best way we knew how. I was praying. I said, 'God, I know you answer prayers. Please send help.'"

That's when he saw the blue flashing lights.

A Metro police car pulled up behind the disabled vehicle and Officer Stephen Fouche, a seven-year veteran with the department, got out.

Fouche, who volunteered to take a call to check on a disabled vehicle, found the SUV's doors open — presumably because of the heat, and the family in distress.

"They told me a civilian had stopped earlier and gave the young adults and a baby a ride to a convenience store the next exit up," Fouche said. "I knew they needed to eat and get out of the sun."

The officer gave them a ride and reunited the family at the Twice-Daily's Shell station just off the McCroy Lane exit where the manager, Sherry Street, gave them free food and water.

"It was obvious the folks we were dealing with were not a family of means," Fouche said. "They told me the people who were going to rescue them needed them to send money through Western Union just to come pick them up."

So, Fouche started calling hotels in the area. When he got the Coley Davis Court Microtel Motel in Bellevue on the line and explained the family's predicament, the manager, Kim Norvell, provided the stranded travelers with a free room for the evening.

Fouche also gave the family $100.

"I've never seen an officer be so friendly, kind and generous," Washburn said. "He went out of his way and beyond his job duty to help us. Paid for the motel, gave us $100 and made sure we got to that store. These days people... they think it's all about bad cops. They don't see what the good ones do to help people. People need to know what kind of people we really have out there."

Later Thursday evening, Fouche was walking in a park with his daughter when his department called to commend him for his actions.

When he got off the phone, he said his daughter asked him why work called.

"I told her it only takes one little candle to light up a dark room. Sometimes a little act of kindness goes a long way, if anything, to give people a sense of faith and hope," he said. "What matters to me is that people know there are people out there that care."

The Washburn family never made it to the funeral.

"But it's OK under the circumstance," Washburn said, pointing out their SUV was irreparable in the end. "A car is replaceable, but what he did was unbelievable. That's something you will never forget about."

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8072. Follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.