On a daily basis, the media finds ways to attack police officers. They take a few bad apples and broadcast their misdeeds to the country. It has given most cops a bad rap and has led many citizens to distrust them. But are all cops bad seeds? Maybe this story will shed some light on the kind of people who work in the New York Police Department.
It’s not easy being a cop in one of the largest cities in America. New York cops face serious challenges. When they are not risking their lives to stop crimes, they have to deal with over 8 million citizens. Many of them dislike or even hate the police. The workload is enough to make the most valiant officer cynical.
Two NYPD officers were recently driving through Manhattan, patrolling a neighborhood per their usual routine. That’s when they noticed a lone black man sitting outside an apartment. It was the middle of January, a frigid day. Clearly, this was unusual. The man was shivering. He seemed unable to get into the building because he was in a wheelchair.
What do you think those cops did? Did they just drive along, minding their own business? Nope. They pulled over and helped the man into his house. It turns out the 85-year-old was a veteran who had been abandoned outside the front steps of his Manhattan home in the middle of January by his cab driver. Without the help of those officers, he would have frozen to death.
“Once we knew he needed to get inside the house, you know, that was the only way we could get him up,” Officer Zelikov told Fox News. “We could carry him up safely, so we did.”
As officers helped him, the 85-year-old elderly gentleman share with them that he was a Navy veteran who served during the Korean War and reminisced about the “olden days” when he volunteered for the NYPD in the early 1980s, Fox News further reported.
I know it’s not a cab driver’s usual job to carry someone up the steps. But seriously, how could that jerk leave the man freezing in his wheelchair? That kind of behavior is what gives New York a bad reputation. Thankfully, though, these two officers were of better character. They did not hesitate to make sure this veteran got into his home safely. However, their kindness didn’t stop there.
It turns out, Zelikov and Duran are both veterans themselves, so they thanked the fellow veteran for his service and stayed with him for about 20 minutes, making sure he was safe and no longer in need of assistance. “He was happy to have us there to help him up the stairs. But he really enjoyed the company as well — as did we,” Zelikov recalled.
“I visited him yesterday,” Duran, who also says their newfound friendship won’t end there, told Fox News. “We’ll definitely be seeing him.”
These kinds of stories don’t get circulated enough. We always hear about cops behaving too aggressively or mistreating a suspect. Rarely does the media highlight two cops who go the extra mile for a stranger. Not only did they strike up a friendship with the man, they are raising money to make sure he doesn’t get stuck out of his apartment again.
This is the kind of character that exists among many officers. They aren’t just interested in stopping crooks or solving crimes. They chose that line of work because they want to serve their community. Police officers care about the well-being of all of their neighbors. Hopefully, many people will read this story and spread the word.