Apr. 27--ULLIN, Ill. -- The aid Chris Stringer gave to an Illinois state trooper more than a year ago might have helped saved the officer's life. On Wednesday, the state police formally thanked him. Stringer, 31, formerly of Barlow, Ky., now lives in Villa Ridge. He was driving home from visiting family on Christmas Day 2004 when he stopped to help what appeared to be a driver stuck in a snowy ditch off the side of Ill. 51 just north of Mounds in Pulaski County. It turned out the vehicle wasn't stuck. The driver was fighting with Trooper Chuck Bonifield, who was on top of him in the car after a routine traffic stop went awry. "I was following the vehicle, and the driver stopped in the middle of the roadway. It had been snowing out," Bonifield recalled. "I thought the subject was impaired by alcohol or other drugs, and I asked for his identification. I could smell alcohol and burnt cannabis." Bonifield said the driver, Sterling Roy Thompkins, 21, of Villa Ridge, wouldn't give him a straight answer and tried to change the subject instead of handing over his license. Thompkins' girlfriend watched from the passenger's seat.