A call for assistance got a Columbia man more than simply a ride home.
Columbia Police Department Cpl. Candice Stuart responded last Saturday to Lafayette Street and came upon an elderly, wheelchair-ridden man holding a box of clothing and asking for assistance.
“We got out there and he was in a front yard with the clothes and he didn’t have anybody that could help him,” Stuart said. “I took the clothes and told him I would help him and I let him make his way back to his apartment.”
Stuart finished escorting the parade Saturday morning to honor area Dixie Youth Baseball and Softball World Series teams and returned to drop the clothing off for the gentlemen, whom police are not identifying for the story.
“When I brought his clothes back, I noticed that there was nothing in his apartment except for a towel, a metal fold-up chair and his wheelchair,” she said. “He had some lunch meat and some of those pecan pinwheels in the refrigerator. He asked if I could bring him some water and I left to get some.”
Stuart called her fellow CPD A Shift members, Lt. Jeff Smith and Cpl. Victor Davila.
“I reached out to them and I reached out to the mayor (Justin McKenzie) trying to figure out if we could get any kind of help for him,” she said. We got a few phone numbers and I went by WINGS.”
Davila made contact with Pastor Terry Montgomery of the Christian Family Worship Center and asked for assistance.
“I talked to him and he said that he had what he called a cot, it was like a futon,” Davila said. “He brought that and a little couch and said he was going to talk to the people of the church and see if they could help him out with some clothes and whatever they could help out with.”
By the end of their shift, the three officers had helped the man settle into his apartment.
“Cpl. Davila and Pastor Montgomery went back over and they set the bed up and put the couch in there,” Stuart said. “It was while he was in the hospital. I had convinced him to be transported because he was having some health issues. We got AAA (Ambulance Service) to come out and he was transported to Marion General Hospital. While he was at the ER, Cpl. Davila and the pastor brought the stuff over. When he came home, he came home to a bed and a couch.”
Davila said several organizations had helped donate in addition to WINGS and Christian Family Life Center.
“I still need to go over to Houston’s Cleaner’s,” he said. “They said they had some shirts and things that might fit him.”
Stuart said many people don’t realize that there is more than making arrests or traffic stops during a shift for a police officer.
“Sometimes you find that person that breaks your heart and it makes you want to help them out,” she concluded. “Once I told Davila about it, he got on board real fast. We knew we had to find him help. We’re glad to know that he is more comfortable than he was.”
Pictured Above: Columbia Police Department officers, from left, Cpl. Victor Davila, Lt. Jeff Smith and Cpl. Candice Stuart rallied to aid a local man. | Photo by Mark Rogers
