“I’ll never forget the day. It was Oct. 23,” Blounts Creek resident Sterling Tripp recalled.

On Oct. 23, 2016, Tripp’s 26-year-old son Chase was walking along a freeway in Durham that night with his friend JC. The bus they were riding stopped and for an unknown reason couldn’t take them any farther.

Around the same time, a teenager driving without a license and with four other passengers came barreling down the freeway. Chase Tripp took the brunt of the hit — sent flying on impact and skidding on the road. His friend was struck, too, but not as directly as Chase.

The young driver didn’t stop.

Lucky for the two friends, however, Jasmine Perkins did stop. An employee at Duke Hospitals, Perkins pulled over and jumped into action, performing CPR and reviving Chase until first responders arrived to take over. JC suffered a broken leg.

Sterling Tripp said he still remembers the hysterical phone call his wife Linda received from Chase’s girlfriend.

“I knew it was bad. … As I walk in the house, my wife faints,” Tripp said. “He’s in trauma, and he’s really not in good shape.”

Tripp’s wife went that night to Duke Hospitals, and Tripp said he followed soon after.

“We started hearing about this young lady,” Tripp recalled, referring to Perkins. “We’re just getting bits and pieces of what happened.”

Perkins said that while passing by the accident, she felt God telling her to stop. And her jumping into action was simply what she has been trained to do.

Tripp said it is amazing that Perkins did stop, especially when considering the situation: a young woman stopping in the dark to help two strangers.

Chase survived the accident, but he sustained a broken jaw, hip, shoulder and leg, according to Tripp. After being discharged from the hospital, he spent three more weeks in a rehabilitation center. Chase progressed from a wheelchair to a walker.

“He’s not 100 percent yet, but he’s walking again,” Tripp said. “He’s still got probably a few months until he is back to normal.”

He said he thinks Chase’s past as a Pam Pack football player (he graduated in 2009) and athleticism helped him recover as quickly as he did. That and the hand of God.

“If she wasn’t there, I don’t think he would’ve made it,” Tripp said. “It’s really just a miracle.”

He said the whole family is grateful that Chase survived, and since the accident, they’ve gotten to know Perkins well.

“After all this, we meet her. She is a new daughter in our family. She calls us mom and pops,” Tripp said.

Perkins keeps in touch often and came to visit the Tripps in Blounts Creek about a week ago. Chase is back at his home in Durham.

“It’s just been an amazing show of love, support and prayers,” Tripp said. “I just would like for people to know there are some really good people out there.”