Police Officer Comes to Rescue

by Joseph Chin,Oct 08, 2010

A Peel Regional Police officer certainly takes his force’s motto, A Safer Community, seriously.
And Helen Correia is glad he does.On Tuesday morning, the 42-year-old Streetsville resident, who suffers from macular degeneration and is considered legally blind, was stranded at her ophthalmologist’s Millway Shopping Centre office after her ride failed to show.It was another setback because she’d just received some crushing news from her doctor.

“Right now I can see maybe a couple of feet away. But he told me I shouldn’t be surprised if I wake up one day soon and find myself totally blind,” she said.
Correia couldn’t afford a taxi, and from past experience was afraid to attempt using a bus.“The route numbers are much too small for people like me to recognize, so wrong buses end up stopping. When that happens the drivers sometimes get mad at me. It’s such a hassle,” she said.

After waiting 45 minutes and out of options, Correia decided to walk home – a distance of nearly five miles. It would have required her to cross several major intersections.Using her white cane, and navigating carefully around road construction, she set out in a light drizzle along Erin Mills Pkwy. At one point, she was almost hit by a car making a turn.Correia was close to panicking when the officer came along.

“He drove up in an unmarked cruiser, so I didn’t know he was a police officer,” Correia recounted. “I was a bit afraid. He stopped about five feet away and was calling out, ‘Miss! Miss!’ I guess he was warning me that I was putting myself in danger.”It was only when he got closer that Correia saw he was a police officer. He took her home and waited while she got into the house safely. After the officer drove away, Correia realized she didn’t get his name or badge number. She only knows he works out of 11 Division.

Still, Correia wants to thank the officer by coming forward with her story.
“He went out of his way to help me. He didn’t have to stop because he probably had more important stuff to do,” she said.
She adds: “Some people have this negative impression of police, that all they do is hand out traffic tickets. And that’s not true. Thinking back, I shudder to think what might have happened to me if this kind officer hadn’t happened by.”
Tracking down the Good Samaritan for Correia to personally thank is difficult since some 300 officers work out of 11 Division, says Peel police spokesperson Cst. Wayne Patterson.But he isn’t surprised by what occurred.

“This is typical of our officers to think of others before they think of themselves when they’re out there on duty. Helping people, including helping a blind lady get home, is just part of what we do out there day after day,” he said.