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Cab Driver Leaves Age 85 Wheelchair-Bound Veteran Shivering in Cold, Until Cops Arrive

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When police officers are out on patrol, they never know what they might come across. It could be anything from the bizarre to the dangerous, but oftentimes it involves helping someone, in some way.

NYPD officers Vitaliy Zelikov and Georin Duran experienced that very thing on Jan. 20, 2018, while driving in Manhattan. What they saw was shocking: a wheelchair-bound man at the bottom of a flight of stairs, shivering in the cold.

This was no homeless man or wayward traveler — he was sitting outside his own home, but he was unable to get inside.

They immediately stopped and talked to the 85-year-old man about what happened, reported Fox News. The Navy veteran had quite the tale to tell them, too.

When he left his apartment earlier that day for a doctor’s appointment, a medical transportation service picked him up, so there was a staff member to help him get down the stairs.

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But when he returned home, he had to take a cab alone. When he reached his home, he asked the cab driver for assistance but according to Fox News, “the man said, ‘That’s not my job,’ and drove off.”

There is no way of knowing how long he would have stayed out in the cold temperatures had Zelikov and Duran not come across him. Zelikov explained that the officers knew what to do and how to do it: “We could carry him up safely, so we did.”

It seems unimaginable that someone could be so cruel as to see this poor man’s situation and refuse to help him. Perhaps others had seen his plight and passed him before the cops noticed him, but if so, that would fit the definition of good Samaritan perfectly.

Perhaps the cabbie had realized he wouldn’t be able to help the man on his own, but he still could have done more to make sure the senior veteran didn’t have to suffer out in the cold.



Once he was safely inside his home, they did not simply leave and go on with their work day. Zelikov stated that the duo stayed around for about 20 minutes, chatting with the man and making sure he was okay.

He elaborated, “He was happy to have us there to help him up the stairs. But he really enjoyed the company as well — as did we.”

Duran told Fox News that they “will be seeing him again” and that he personally had since visited with the unidentified man just the day prior to the interview.



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As wonderful as all of that is, that is not where the efforts of these officers to help this gentleman end. They’ve been looking for a company to “take measurements of the man’s building to estimate how much it would cost to build a wheelchair ramp or lift.”

Multiple people commenting on the story have suggested setting up a GoFundMe campaign to help the man get what he needs. There are certainly many people willing to help support this cause after hearing this story.

According to Duran, that is exactly what he is going to do once they have a better idea of how much money they need to raise.

While many commenting on the story criticized the cabbie and praised the officers, both men were quick to reject the title of “hero,” stating that they were just doing their job and that their “primary purpose” is to help those in the community who are in need of the help they can provide.

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