Before he was pulled over by a Zelienople police officer for his second DUI, alcohol had become “part of who I was,” Michael Bauer said.

“I reached a point where I needed the alcohol,” Bauer, now eight years sober, said. “I just couldn’t wait to leave work and get to the bar.”

Bauer, a 40-year-old Zelienople resident, said he was given multiple chances to turn his life around during his years of heavy drinking.

In 2016, he was in a coma for two weeks with brain hemorrhaging, a skull fracture and his jaw wired shut. He was driving his Harley Davidson to South Carolina for Myrtle Beach Bike Week. He considered turning around due to severe weather caused by Hurricane Matthew, but didn’t. Then, he was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light. He went on the trip by himself, and because of the weather, no family could travel to visit him in the hospital during his coma.

“And I went back to the same barstools as before the wreck,” he said.

Two years later, Bauer was driving to his home from the bar near his home on Main Street in Zelienople when he rear-ended someone. He was charged with his second DUI.

“It’s one of those things that really gets me now,” he said. “That was the night I feel God rescued me.”

Bauer was pulled over by officer Tom Goldie, who has been with the police department since 2014. Goldie said he could see the remorse in Bauer.

“I just treated him like any human being,” Goldie said. “I could tell he wanted to change. I felt like he was his worst critic.”

Bauer said he felt like he should have gotten pulled out of his vehicle and “roughed up,” but that wasn’t how Goldie handled it. Goldie showed concern and addressed his mental state, Bauer said. Bauer described him as “an angel in a police uniform.”

“I deserved everything I would have had coming to me in that state, but that wasn’t how he treated me,” Bauer said.

Bauer expected to go to jail after his second DUI. He had no idea what the courts would decide for him.

Instead, he was sentenced to serve 90 days of house arrest. He was also on probation for five years, lost his license for a year then had to drive with an ignition interlock system — a device used to check sobriety before starting a vehicle.

“When you see those posters that say ‘DUI: You can’t afford it,’ that’s not a joke,” he said.

Bauer was between jobs at the time of his second DUI. Since he lost his license and had two DUIs on his record, finding his next job was a challenge.

He began working at a gas station in town, then a customer invited him to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with her.

The meetings helped Bauer shake his desire to drink, he said. The husband of the customer who invited him became his sponsor and he was supported by his probation officer, Jeremy McCorkle.

“When you’re trying to rebuild your life, having people in positions of authority watching out for you makes a difference,” Bauer said.

Bauer attended meetings five days per week the first couple years after the DUI. Early on in meetings, he was always told to take sobriety one day at a time and he said that’s still how it feels today. The meetings helped him uncover he was using alcohol to numb what else was wrong in his life.

“I feel like God used the whole DUI and what I went through, this many years of being addicted to alcohol, so I could help others get out of it,” Bauer said.

Bauer had been drinking heavily since his father died of a drug overdose in 2006. He had dropped out of high school in 10th grade and got his general education degree before joining the U.S. Navy for about two years. He said the combination of his father dying and leaving the Navy was a catalyst for his poor mental health and addiction.

“There’s a lot of stigma,” Bauer said about substance abuse in Butler. “Nobody is taking the time to actually talk to them and find out what their needs are. Throwing them in jail is not the answer.”

Bauer began holding himself accountable by giving Goldie his sobriety tokens. Bauer gave Goldie all the tokens he earned from his first 24 hours through his first three months sober. Now, he gives them to Goldie every year.

“The coins are just reminders,” Bauer said. “Officer Goldie might have thought he was just doing his job that day, but when it comes down to it, God put him there and changed my life.”

Goldie said he plans to return all of Bauer’s sobriety tokens when he retires.

“Eight years (sober) is a long time,” Goldie said. “And I tell him, ‘You’re a better man than me now.’”

Bauer now works as a pharmacy technician in Jackson Township and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but his main mission is helping others in the same situation he lived in.

He said he frequently travels to share his recovery journey at festivals and events “trying to reach as many people as possible,” while handing out Narcan and miniature bibles. He even assists with baptisms.

He said a lot of parents also reach out to him for advice on helping their children through addiction.

“I’m ecstatic that this dude is that determined,” Goldie said. “I didn’t do anything special that I remember. I just treated him like a normal person.”

On Thursday nights, Bauer also volunteers as a counselor at Hope Center Ministries in Kittanning.

He also has a 4.0 GPA in Liberty University’s Master of Divinity program, which teaches biblical leadership principles and strategies.

“Going from a high school dropout to a 4.0 college student, if I could do it, anybody could do it,” Bauer said. “As long as you have breath in your lungs, there’s hope.”

Goldie has also published three books since starting his recovery. All three are Christian books available on Amazon. They’re titled “Born on Death Row,” “Recovery on the Mount” and “Loving Through the Wreckage.”