Good Samaritans

Edward Barber
HPD
A blowout stopped Aaron Cross during evening rush hour at I-45 North and Beltway 8. Cross moved his car to the side of the road, put on his spare tire, and discovered it was low.

Luckily, Sgt. Edward Barber saw him and stopped to help. Barber drove him to a service station to get “Fix a Flat,” Cross wrote. When that didn’t work, Barber escorted him slowly down the freeway to another service station.

At that station, the air pump wasn’t working, so Barber asked the station manager to fix the pump. “Not only was Sgt. Barber courteous, friendly and concerned about my safety, he didn’t mind getting his uniform or hands dirty in his efforts to help,” Cross wrote.

G.D. Brown
HPD
A flat tire on I-10 at 6:30 p.m. put Mrs. Enohi Ibekwe in a quandary. Her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons were scared, hungry and tired. Her cell phone wasn’t working, and she had never changed a tire.

“You can imagine how grateful I was when, at 7:35 p.m., Officer G.D. Brown stopped to change the tire,” Ibekwe wrote. “My older son said that when he grows up he will become a police officer who helps people when they have flat tires.”

Pete Garcia
Public Works & Engineering
The blowout on her Explorer left Betty Elbus apprehensive. She pulled to the side of the freeway and called her roadside service. They told her she had at least an hour’s wait.

Then, Elbus saw a city truck pulling in behind her. “It was an answer to my prayers,” she wrote. “I knew it would be safe to ask a city employee for help.”

But before she could ask, Pete Garcia was at her car offering his help. He changed the tire, put the ruined tire in the trunk and refused compensation, Elbus wrote. “I am so grateful for Mr. Garcia’s consideration and help. This young man is a keeper.”