Photos Of Louisville Police Officer Helping Struggling Runner Go Viral
A Louisville woman was having a hard time finishing off the last portion of the city’s annual 10K run – until a helpful police officer showed up and helped her cross the finish line. Now photos of the encounter are going viral on social media.
Asia Ford has struggled with her weight for most of her adult life, WHAS (Louisville) reports. At her heaviest, she weighed 474 pounds. Only when her husband lost a limb to diabetes did she realize that she needed to make some lifestyle changes if her kids were going to have a mother.
“It’s been a struggle because nothing is easy in life. It’s been a lot of teary-eyed moments, but I know I want it for myself.”
Ford has since lost over 25 pounds. She still has a long way to go before she reaches her target weight, but every day she sheds more pounds.
Saturday’s 10K Rodes City Run Louisville was to be another step in Ford’s continuing weight loss journey, according to People. About four miles into the six-mile race, she started having trouble breathing.
Then a Louisville Police squad car pulled up. Lt. Aubrey Gregory explains what happened next.
“I’m not going to let her quit, so I got out and she immediately grabbed my hand.”
Gregory offered to give the runner a ride to the finish line, but she was having none of it.
“He asked me if I wanted to stop and I was like, ‘No,’ we have two more miles to go.”
Lt. Gregory and Ms. Ford walked the remaining two miles of the race, hand-in-hand, with the police officer on one side and her son holding her hand on the other side.
At a time when police in the U.S. deal with something of an image problem due to high-profile incidents of police shootings and brutality making the news, stories of cops doing a good deed – especially when they don’t have to – help to shatter those negative stereotypes.
Ford, her son, and her new Louisville Police officer friend eventually made it across the finish line – where an enthusiastic crowd cheered them on.
“When I watched her approach and I started to hear people scream and I let her go right there before the end and to see her raise her hands, there aren’t words to express the way I felt seeing her be successful.”
As of this post, the photo of the Louisville cop and the runner crossing the finish line has gained over 600,000 Likes and over 58,000 Shares on Facebook.
