19-year-old Jacob Millsaps loves his ’94 Volvo – it’s the first car he’s ever owned.

“I’ve had it for like four or five months – and it’s a wonderful feeling, I don’t have to walk everywhere,” said Millsaps.

But about a month ago, Millsaps got into an accident.

“It broke the headlights – like it smashed in the headlights – they turned on for a little bit, and then the water kept on hitting them and it eventually fried everything,” said Millsaps.

So Millsaps got creative:

“I went to Walmart and bought two flashlights – just two regular camping flashlights,” Millsaps said.

He strapped them down with bungee cords and made sure to turn them on at night. But early Tuesday morning:

“One of our officers was on patrol and he saw a vehicle driving down the road with just a very dim light coming from the front of the vehicle,” said Darrell DeBusk, with the Knoxville Police Department.

Officers cited Millsaps and sent him on his way. But the same thing happened 18 hours later.

“It could cause him to have a wreck – you just can’t see far enough down the road using a couple of flashlights on your car. It’s also dangerous for other motorists because they can’t see him either,” said DeBusk.

Millsaps wants to get his lights fixed, but right now, he’s out of work and struggling to make ends meet.

“There’s no food in there – you can go and look for yourself. There’s no soap in there – I’m using literally clothing soap – detergent – for my body wash. And toilet paper – I had to go to a convenience store and get some out of there. I have no money – I have nothing,” said Millsaps.

But he has learned his lesson: he said he won’t be putting himself – or others – at risk by driving at night.

Officers cited Millsaps for improper headlights, violation of the state registration law and no insurance.

Millsaps said once he gets a job, he plans to fix his car right away. (WVLT)