State trooper helps former Polish president Walesa with flat tire
A Connecticut state trooper and native of Poland got a chance Wednesday to help one of the most famous Poles of all time with a roadside repair.
Trooper Lukasz Lipert was called on to assist former Polish President Lech Walesa with a flat tire on I-84 in Tolland, state police said. Lipert helped ensure safety at the scene while an auto service worker changed the tire on the SUV in which Walesa was a passenger.
Lipert said he spoke to the
Nobel Peace Prize winner in Polish about the history of their homeland and the anti-communist movement in which Walesa was a key figure.
“It was definitely a great opportunity to meet the man who had a voice during those times,” Lipert, 35, said.
Walesa has been in Connecticut as part of his Ukraine relief campaign. The 78-year-old founder of Poland’s once powerful Solidarity movement is touring the U.S. to champion refugees who have been uprooted from
their homes due to Russian attacks. Up to 3.2 million displaced Ukrainians are in Poland, according to the latest estimate.
At first, Lipert said, he thought a fellow trooper was joking when he called for backup at about 11:30 a.m., saying that a former Polish president was in a disabled vehicle.
“What are the odds there’s going to be a former Polish president on the side of 84 in Tolland,” Lipert said.
But he talked with Walesa on the phone as he made his way to the scene, “and sure enough,” Lipert said, “it was him.”
Lipert came to the U.S. when he was 18 and said he did not pay much attention to politics as a kid growing up in Poland. But as an adult, he said, he read about the history of his home country, and that was the focus of his conversation with Walesa.
“It was definitely a great experience,” Lipert said.