GRIFFIN, Ga. — A retired fire chief from Griffin saved a woman's life after a rollover crash and was then immediately arrested in 2017. Now, six years later the 30-year-old veteran is coming to the rescue again.
On Oct. 10, 2017, Rick Rickerson was driving on GA 109 in Meansville, Georgia when he saw a diver lose control of her car. Rickerson jumped into action to help the woman.
The woman stuck in the middle of the car crash was Rebecca Buchanan.
The 56-year-old former battalion chief was then immediately arrested by the Georgia State Patrol for refusing to leave Buchanan's side after reviving her.
That was only the beginning of what would be come a lasting friendship between Rickerson and Buchanan.
The District Attorney dropped Rickerson's charges in 2018, one day after 11Alive's Investigation aired on the "Handcuffed Hero."
"As soon as your story aired, the charges were dropped the next day, I believe," Rickerson recounted. "The next day. The DA called a meeting and dropped all charges."
Now, four years later, Rickerson still refuses to leave Buchanan's side.
The crash left Buchanan paralyzed but not home-bound.
"Becca goes all over Manchester in her little scooter wheelchair -- her electric wheelchair," Rickerson explained.
Recently, Buchanan had another rollover in that wheelchair on the uneven ground between her house and the street. Rickerson came to her rescue for a second time by paving a road for her wheelchair.
To wheelchair-bound Buchanan, the paved road meant freedom.
“I just crank up my chair just because I can, and just zoom out of the yard," she said.
Buchanan's last car, the one that nearly took her life, left her with only her wheelchair as a form of transportation.
And just recently, Rickerson came to his friend's rescue for a third time. This time he bought her a wheelchair-accessible van.
The white van is named "Becca's Bus" after Buchanan, and it was purchased with the money Rickerson had been saving up for a pontoon boat.
“My wife and I have been saving since last summer," he said. "You can’t compare this. This is something that will change her life drastically."
The decision was an easy one to make for the retired fire chief and his wife.
“I just looked at my wife and I said, 'pontoon boat…Becca’s van.' And my wife said, ‘how are we gong to find a van?’"
But they did, and Buchanan said she is "so overjoyed."
"I love Rick and Carla,” she said.
Buchanan will soon be able to drive her van but for now, Rickerson is behind the wheel. No longer strangers, they're now the best of friends.