When Brad and Molly Nemec’s Dodge Durango broke down in downtown Stillwater last month, they called City Hall to explain that it would be stranded overnight.

The Lindstrom, Minn., couple, who rescue Jindu dogs destined for slaughter in Korea, were on their way to pick up six dogs in Wisconsin when their SUV overheated near Teddy Bear Park.

The dogs, flown from Seoul to Chicago, had been picked up at O’Hare International Airport by a friend of Nemec’s. The friend planned to meet the Nemecs near the Wisconsin Dells, a halfway point between their home and the Chicago airport.

“We called and asked them not to tow us,” Molly Nemec said. “We were trying to get a rental car, but all the rentals were full because it was the holiday weekend. We needed one large enough to fit six dog kennels.”

Brad Junker, the Stillwater Police Department’s community service officer, went to check on the Nemecs about 2 p.m. June 30.

“Their hood was up,” Junker said. “I asked if there was something I could do — if they needed food or if they needed water.”

Molly Nemec started crying as she told Junker their situation.

“She explained that they might be missing their meeting point, and they didn’t know what to do,” he said. “They were trying to make contact with some people back in Lindstrom … and they just weren’t having any luck.”

Junker, who owns a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban, quickly realized he could help. He went and got it and let them borrow it for their rescue mission.

“I don’t know; it just seemed like the thing to do,” Junker said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you just take my vehicle? I have to work for another four or five hours. I won’t be using it. It’s just sitting in the parking lot, so why don’t you just use it?’ ”

Molly Nemec, 40, an elementary-school counselor, said she couldn’t believe his offer. She made him say it twice.

“He said, ‘Sure, just take my vehicle, if that’s all you need,’” she said. “He didn’t even know us, and that’s when he said: ‘I’m going to go and get my Suburban for you to use.’ … He was back within eight minutes, and he just handed us the keys.”

Junker warned the Nemecs that a tire was low and the tank was almost empty. They went right to Lucky’s Station on North Main Street and “filled it up and put air in the tire, and we’re driving on I-94 and we look at each other, and we’re, like, ‘What just happened?’ ” said Molly Nemec, who volunteers with Ruff Start Rescue in Princeton, Minn.

“My husband said, ‘You know he must have been an angel in disguise,’” she said.

Junker, 47, who lives in Stillwater, said he was moved to learn of the couple’s rescue work and knew his daughter, Molly, 18, would be, too. She had just been telling him about the controversial annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China, where thousands of dogs are rounded up and slaughtered for food.

“She is the biggest animal lover that you could possibly imagine, and I knew she would just be beside herself if she knew we could help out in some way with this,” Junker said. “I was just delighted that they said they would (use my vehicle). I honestly didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal. It just seemed like enough bad things had happened; let’s do something right.”

The Nemecs returned Junker’s SUV — with a full tank of gas — about 10 that night. Junker and his daughter also got to meet the six dogs — Maple, Monarch, Lilac, Laker, River and Honeycrisp — before they were taken away by their foster families.

“All the fosters got to see him and got to sing his praises,” Nemec said. “He saved the day.” Related Articles Ex-slave who died in Stillwater in 1913 finally gets a headstone

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The dogs, which look like a cross between a yellow Labrador and a Siberian husky, are available for adoption through Ruff Start Rescue, Nemec said.

Junker, an eight-year veteran of the police department, is “known for paying things forward,” said Police Chief John Gannaway. “He’s very good at that. He just does little things throughout the community that he doesn’t get recognition for.”

Nemec wrote a post praising Junker and shared it on the city’s Facebook page.

“I have to admit I’m a bit overwhelmed and sort of embarrassed by the attention, when I feel like all I was doing was offering a simple solution to someone who was having a bad day,” Junker said.

“I am number 6 of the seven children raised by Don and Shirley Junker, who showed us time and time again to help out wherever you can — and each of whom would have probably offered the same solution to the Nemecs,” he said. “I am my father’s son.”