‘Saw me as a person’: Video shows traffic stop turn into moment of hope for recovering mother

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — A moment of humanity was captured on a Cabarrus County deputy’s body camera, and one act of kindness changed a woman’s life.

Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz heard about this story months ago and has been pushing the courts to release the video. This week, we finally get to see the glimmer of hope from the lens of Cabarrus County Deputy Shawn Singleton’s body camera.

The view is nothing out of the ordinary; it starts with a standard traffic stop. Singleton tells a driver that she was stopped for going 61 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone.

Katelyn Ricchini, the driver, says she was heading home from church when she got pulled over that Sunday.

“I meet him with absolute attitude, just absolute attitude,” Ricchini told Goetz.

The body camera video shows their interaction.

“I’m not allowed to have bad days?” she said.

“No, everybody is entitled to a bad day. I can understand that completely, okay, but like, I’m trying to be nice and courteous to you, and like, I’m getting a lot of heat off,” Singleton can be heard telling her.

“I’m sorry, I come from a background where I don’t do cops, I can’t stand cops, OK,” she said.

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Keeping his composure, Singleton ran her license and decided to let her off with a warning, despite the heated interaction.

In that moment, something changed.

“I could tell something was going on, but, and you know, just asked a question, and sometimes it elicits an answer that you expect, and sometimes it elicits an answer that you don’t expect. And this was definitely one that I didn’t expect,” Singleton told Goetz.

The body camera video shows the rest of their interaction.

“Are you good?” Singleton asks Ricchini.

“No, no, my anxiety is killing me,” she said. “I come from a background‚ I’m clean and sober now, OK ... I’ve always had bad incidents with cops."

“I understand probably where you came from is probably not the best. OK, you came down here for a reason, right? Okay, give it a chance. OK, don’t bring the anxieties,” Singleton says.

He offers words of encouragement while having no idea what she was going through until this moment.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” he says. “Do you need help with anything at all? Do you want a hug?”

Katelyn says yes, and she explains through tears how she ended up in North Carolina.

“I moved down here to get away from an abusive relationship, and I’m clean and I’m sober for four months,” Ricchini said through tears.

After battling years of addiction and abuse, she moved to the state from Maryland, leaving her 5-year-old son behind so that she could get clean and get him back.

“I’ve never hugged a cop before, I’ve always been put in handcuffs by them,” she said.

Singleton had no idea his humanity and kindness that day changed Ricchini’s life and possibly saved it.

“I told him, I’m ready to give up,” Ricchini said. “I was actually on my way to probably do something that wasn’t in my best interest.”

The traffic stop happened back in March. Now, six months later, she’s celebrating 10 months clean.

“Look, this is one of the guys that saved my life,” Ricchini said, introducing Singleton to her son.

“It’s good to see you again,” he said.

Ricchini told Goetz, “He saw me as a person, not an addict. And he saw my heart, I have potential. When so many people had counted me out, and so many people just lost hope and lost faith in me, he saw something.”

“I try to show mercy and grace where I can, because that’s what I believe is the calling for myself and for law enforcement is, that’s what most of us get into. We want to be there to help,” Singleton said. “If you have that moment, that chance to show that sympathy, and that moment to do it, and not just walk badly by because it may mean the difference to somebody else.”

Ricchini says she’ll be one year sober in November, and she invited Singleton to celebrate with her.

She also has a full-time job, and her son now lives with her again.

>>See the traffic stop unfold in the video at the top of this page.

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