So Today as I am driving to work, my car gets a flat tire. Lucky for me I had a spare, and was taught by my father how to properly change a tire. As I pull over to the side of the road, an officer pulls over behind me ( I am in La Plata Maryland ), and helps me to change my tire, right there on the side of the road.
Officer Bagley, I salute you. It's wonderful to know there are decent human beings out there, police or civilian, who help those in need.
I hope he sees this.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
10 comments:
I commend the officer for helping you, but you must be a hotty because they will usually just park behind you with their lights on and not lift one finger other than to turn the lights on.
Oh for God's sakes please just let someone spread some sunshine without raining on them!
Thank you for writing this Chelsea, it's nice to know that people still practice acts of kindness, and that others appreciate them
What agency assisted you? I only mention this because recently I ran out of gas and was walking down Route 50, gas can in hand, and a Maryland State Police car drove by despite seeing me wave the can in the air.
When I called the MSP I was told I wasn't given a ride to a gas station because of "liability."
Yea, they rarely help anymore. It's nice to hear when someone does, though.
La Plata in Charles County Maryland. Officer Bagley is awesome!
If you really want to commend Officer Bagley you should write a short letter and send it to his/her department head. It's nice to hear positive things about an officer and I'm sure they would appreciate hearing from you.
From a retired law enforcement officer.
Almost all police officer would do the same thing, it happens all the time. Except no one thanks them or writes to the papers about it. The papers only like blowing up minor incidents involving the police to trash them. In reality there would be no newspapers without the police.
there are some very good and caring officers out there...they too need to know that they are appreiated....alot of times they dont get credit when credit is do....good job officer Bagley!
Having been a Police Officer for a couple years I felt the need to comment on this because I hear this complaint a lot from citizens during casual conversation.
First off, let me say thank you to the poster for showing the gratitude to Officer Bagley for the help that he gave her.
There are more than just a few things to be considered when someone is broken down on the side of the road when an Officer has to decide the level of help he is willing to give. Personally, I only feel the need to change a tire for someone who is physically unable to do it themselves, for instance someone with a handicap or someone elderly. If you drive a car you should be aware of basic emergency maintanence problems that you might encounter and be able to fix them. You don't drive a car without knowing how to put gas in it so why would you drive one without knowing how to change a tire. It's not rocket science and I guarantee we all know at least one person that could teach us how to change one.
Second, the police are not AAA. Someone had mentioned liability. Liability is certainly one factor to consider. If I were to change a tire on someone's car and make a mistake tightening one of the lug nuts and that person has an accident due to that, I have taken on a HUGE liability. In the old days nobody would dream about suing someone who had tried to help them, well this isn't the old days. There are many roadside services and companies who are more than willing to come out if you have a problem that you can't fix and they will charge you for it, why should the police be obligated to do it in non life threatening situations for free.
I can give you an example from my own personal experience why I may be a little bitter to this topic. One Saturday last July I had just started my shift at 3:00 pm and was patrolling Route 50 between Vienna and Cambridge when I came upon a car stopped in the median. The woman was traveling west and had a flat tire on the driver's side of her car. I stopped and she asked for my help. She was accompanied by her son (which I would guess was about 18 or 19) and what appeared to be his girlfriend (about the same age as him). Well first I explained to her that in order to change her tire she was going to have to pull to the other side of the road because it would be impossible to jack her car up on that side in the moist dirt and grass. I blocked traffic for her as she moved her car to the right shoulder. I have already at this point assumed a liability. If this woman wants to be ignorant she can say that now her wheel is bent because Officer SuchandSuch instructed her to drive on a flat tire, not likely but possible. So when we get to the shoulder she states that she had a jack and a spare tire in her trunk. I ask her son if he knows how to change it and he replies with the common "Nah man, I never done that before". The woman says she doesn't either and the girl just looks at me like I have three heads. It was a hot day (about 90-95 degrees), and traffic was extremely busy. To be Continued...
Continuing...
I decide to change the tire for the woman. I jacked her car up, start pulling off her flat tire and as I was to the trunk to get her spare out for her (which apparently even that was too much for her son to do), I notice that the young lady has since stripped down to a bikini, pulled out a beach towel, and started sunbathing on the side of Route 50 while her boyfriend sat next to her playing with her hair. So here I am, in my bullet proof vest, my polyester shirt, my wool/polyester pants, with my 20-25 lb gun belt and cute little hat, sweating bullets and changing a tire while two perfectly capable kids frollick (sp) on the side of Route 50. Well anyone that has ever changed a tire knows that it is practically impossible to do without getting dirt, oil, road grease, and everything else a tire picks up all over yourself. This is the start of my shift and I have 8 hours to go. So, being I commute 1 hour to and from work I will now be working, caked in dirt, drenched in sweat, for the duration of my shift. After that shift I will get the honor of having to pay to have my uniform dry cleaned. So the tire is changed, the woman did give me a quick "thank you" and subsequently drove off with me never hearing from her again.
So you can thank that woman, her son, and his cute girlfriend the next time I roll up behind you when you have a flat tire. What I will probably do for you is turn my lights on so that you don't get hit and offer to have our dispatcher call you a tow truck or you can fix it yourself.
In closing I am willing to take time out of my shift and most other Officers I know would as well, to teach ANYONE how to change a flat tire if the come to the Department I work at and ask for such instruction. It would take a total of about 10 minutes to teach someone and I'm more than willing to do that. Although I'm not going to say where I work I believe you could probably call any Department in this area and they would do the same. I expect though that I will never hear of anyone calling in requesting to be taught. That would take too much time out of their day when they could just hope that a Police Officer will do it for them when they need it.
Post a Comment