Law enforcement Deputy Chief drives 84-year-old man to hospital to see wife

It’s an act of kindness that’s swept social media. A police officer from Montoursville, PA held the hand of an elderly man to steady him as he enters the hospital to check on his sick wife.

A police department intern took the photo and posted it on the police department’s Facebook page.

“The last I saw it had reached like 10,000 people and that was before 11 o’clock, so I’m sure it’s a lot more than that now. I didn’t expect it to go that big,” said Deputy Chief Jason Bentley.

Bentley was working his regular shift when he got the call that 84-year-old Roger Baker needed a lift to the hospital. He had no friends or family to take him.

His wife of more than 60 years had suffered a medical emergency and was taken by ambulance to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Susquehanna in Williamsport – about seven miles away.

“When he got out of my patrol car at the hospital he held on to the side of the car for about a minute to get his balance. I didn’t realize he was that bad, so I grabbed his hand and started walking him in,” Bentley said.

The post has been shared hundreds of times and seen by thousands.

“You can only imagine what’s going through someone’s mind at that age when they’ve been together that long, but he didn’t seem to be overly upset, like he kind of expected it and was ready and just going to see his wife, see how she’s doing because he didn’t know how she was doing,” Bentley said.

Baker is unsure when or if his wife’s condition will improve.

Jim Parsons is a neighbor to Baker and was touched by the photograph.

“I tell you what, it makes you think a little bit. Those people are here to help you. That’s a real nice picture,” Parsons said.

It’s part of the reason police shared the picture. They want their community to feel comfortable calling for help no matter the situation.

“With this gentleman here, he mentioned on the way to the hospital that there have been a couple of times where his wife had fallen down and instead of calling 911 he went out to the road and flagged someone down and paid them $10 to help pick her up. I said, ‘just call 911. We do that all the time. The fire department, EMS, the police. We’re always helping people up. It’s what we do,'” Bentley said.

Watch the video story on our sister station’s page here.