Officer pushes stranded woman's wheelchair home
California deputies help woman get home after motorized wheelchair loses power.
A California sheriff’s station is dishing out praise to one of its deputies who pushed a stranded, elderly woman to her home about a mile away after her wheelchair stopped working.
Lancaster Sheriff’s Deputies Chapman and Montanez responded to a report “of a traffic hazard” determined to be “a wheelchair in the middle of the road,” the department said Tuesday in a Facebook post.
When they arrived, the deputies discovered both an elderly woman and the motorized chair resting on “the side of the road” and learned that she got stuck after the chair lost power, according to the department.
“Deputies Chapman and Montanez quickly offered her a ride home, but she was very upset about leaving her only means of mobility behind,” the post said. “The wheelchair, being quite heavy and unable to fold because of the battery pack, did not fit in their patrol vehicle.”
So Montanez came to her aid, deciding to push her wheelchair the roughly one mile distance to where she lived, the department said.
Video of the sweet gesture appeared to be captured from inside the patrol car.
“Deputy Chapman teased him about his ‘slow’ pace and you can hear our elderly friend getting a good laugh out of it!” the post said. “We are so incredibly grateful to all of our deputies for the work they do on a daily basis. My hero wears a badge.”
