Elderly Woman Hit Cop Car, But Probably Never Expected Officer to React Quite Like This

An elderly Utah woman accidentally backed up into a police cruiser after being stopped for a traffic violation, but it's the officer's ensuing action that is making the news.

Trooper Jeff Jones "was not directed by a supervisor to do this," a press release from the Utah Highway Patrol said of the officer's actions.

Image source: Screen grab via KTSU-TV

So what exactly did Jones do?

The state trooper had stopped 87-year-old Helen Smith, who was traveling to visit her very ill son in the hospital, for a traffic violation on December 5th, according to KSTU-TV. After he let her off with a warning, Smith put her car in reverse and slammed into Jones' patrol car.

Smith told the officer that she didn't have good eyesight.

Instead of ticketing her or letting her go back on the road, Jones arranged for the woman's vehicle to be taken to another location. But that was only part of the good deed.

Jones then drove Smith to Juab County where trooper Jared Jensen then picked her up. He drove her to Utah County where trooper Chris Bishop took the wheel. Bishop drove Smith to Salt Lake city to be picked up by yet another trooper, Andrew Pollard.

Pollard, who was concluding his shift, then drove through two more counties and dropped Smith off at the hospital.

The actions of each officer were commended by Utah High Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce.

“We as law enforcement officers out there and troopers … we’re humans first, you know? We understand that people need help in different situations, and we are willing to help out," he said.

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