San Bernardino County probation officers help elderly woman recharge electric wheelchair

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Two San Bernardino County probation officers helped an elderly woman charge her electric wheelchair after she was found stranded along a city street corner.

Probation Officer Paulsen was driving to work Wednesday when he saw an elderly woman sitting in an electric wheelchair near 5th and G streets in San Bernardino. She was facing the opposite direction. When Paulsen got to work, he told fellow Officer Polino about the woman.

The pair then headed back to the scene where the woman was still sitting and offered to help her. The duo said the woman's chair had lost power and there was nowhere nearby for her to charge it. Because of the size and weight of the chair, the officers were unable to put it in their car.

Paulsen decided to bring the woman in his car while Polino pushed the chair to a nearby Greyhound Bus Station. The men arranged for the woman to charge her chair at the station and waited with her until it was ready to go.

They said she was very grateful for their help. The random act of kindness was also witnessed by a citizen named Sarah who called the San Bernardino department to express her appreciation for the officers.