Caring for our community: SFPD Officers rescue elderly resident

The good work San Francisco Police Officers do each day often involves our most vulnerable and usually goes unnoticed.

Officer McFall (left) and Officer Cuthbertson (right) from Richmond Station’s Midnight Watch have befriended an 84 year old woman who lives alone and has no family in the area. They regularly check up on her and last saw her the day before when they brought her a Thanksgiving dinner.

However, on this night she did not answer the door and they heard her inside faintly calling out to them. They got into the house and found that the woman’s sofa bed frame had cracked causing her to fall through and become stuck. In fact, she had been trapped for over 12 hours. If the officers had not checked on her, she might have been stuck until her weekly home help visit which was still four days away.

The woman was taken to the hospital to recover. While at the hospital the next day, she called SFPD dispatch because she needed her glasses, address book and cell phone from home and had no one else to get them. The officers happily got the items and delivered them to her hospital room.

Richmond District Captain Simon Silverman: "I want to recognize Officer Cuthbertson and Officer McFall for their caring and dedication. By the way, they didn’t deliver dinner to just this one senior citizen on Thanksgiving. They raised money from their fellow night watch officers then bought, cooked and delivered dinner to 6 seniors living alone in the Richmond. Thanksgiving was their day off, but they chose to spend it in service to others."