BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who has over 35 years of experience turned a young man’s traffic stop into an unintended public safety lesson.
Tyler Marici, who admitted to speeding while he was driving, said he recorded a video of his time with Deputy Mike Powell, whose wisdom went viral on TikTok.
“At first I was scared,” Tyler said. “I was paranoid and I thought I was going to get in trouble.”
Powell, who was patrolling on a bike, asked Tyler for his driver’s license and registration. But instead of punishing him with a traffic ticket, Powell decided to take the time to talk to Tyler.
“I’m tired of reading about it in the paper: 19-20 year old killed because they weren’t paying attention to what they were doing,” Powell told Tyler. “This could have been one of those cases Tyler. Wake up! If you don’t wake up, you ain’t going to wake up. Does that make sense?”
Tyler — who was traveling at about 92 mph in an area with a 65 mph limit — said Powell helped him to understand that he had made a real life-or-death decision when he stepped on the gas.
“He put something in my head that I need to be safer and that’s a blessing from God,” Tyler said.
Powell’s message has gotten over 1.7 million views.
“I’m here basically just to make sure they get home safe,” Powell said. “So basically what I was trying to get across to him is that there’s always consequences to everything that you do ... I’m going to try and do what I can for as many people as I can while I’m still in this uniform.”