GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Kim Buckner has been without a car since Wednesday.
She was driving her Kia Soul near the intersection of Michigan St. and Benson Ave. when she noticed a man who was lying in the street after being hit by a car.
After tending to his injuries and calling for help, she left to go find a family member of the injured pedestrian.
When she came back she found firefighters and police officers giving aid. Throughout all of that chaos, a man hopped into her Kia and took off.
In the car were her house keys, wallet and laptop.
"Financially, I was worried about, you know, I knew I had to find ways to my job," said Kim. "I canceled on my credit cards, so I knew that was kind of on hold for a while. I was trying to figure things out, but I'm always a Plan B person."
On Friday, Buckner got the call from deputies that her car was found on 28th St. near the Cascade Meijer. Kim was told that they found the man staying in a hotel and that he was arrested.
"I was just overjoyed that some of the things I was planning to do, I didn't have to do," said Kim. "And I prayed about it. And you know, I had actually a lot of prayers, a lot of people from Facebook giving me some good support."
Kim's daughter, Brianne Buckner, said the last few days have been difficult for her mom.
"It's devastating," said Brianne. "It's discouraging, my mom has a really big heart. She has been a Special Ed teacher for 35 years in the Grand Rapids and Northview community. She would help anybody it didn't matter for this family, friends a stranger."
That need to help others hasn't gone away, Kim said.
"I discussed this with my students actually. I'm just like, does it stop me from wanting to help anybody in the future? No, I think I would do it all over again. My heart was in the right place, and I knew it was and that's what led me to do it."
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