Laguna Beach law enforcement steps up to get stranded Marine back to base

A Laguna Beach police officer and his partner who responded to a call about a disabled vehicle on the side of Laguna Canyon Road on Wednesday opened their wallets to get a stranded Marine home to Camp Pendleton.

Officer Wade Kraus and Cpl. Larry Bammer were called to the 3200 block of Laguna Canyon after a motorist driving through the area reported that a Chevrolet Impala was stuck on the side of the road.

When they arrived, a Marine and his friend were trying to load the car onto a trailer without much success. They had been working on it for about three hours, Kraus said.

Kraus and Bammer jumped in to help the pair, but it became clear the trailer wasn’t going to be able to haul the car to the base, Kraus said. A flatbed truck was needed to make the 36-mile trip to San Diego County, he said.

There was one problem — the Marine, who Kraus said was in his mid-20s, couldn’t afford the transport fee.

“He was young, recently married and told me money was kind of tight,” Kraus said. “It just wasn’t in his budget.”

So Kraus pulled out his AAA card, arranged for the truck and split the cost — about $330 — with Bammer.

“It’s always nice to be able to pay it forward,” Kraus said. “You can’t leave a serviceman on the side of the road with no options. I just did what needed to be done to get him home.”

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN