14 DAY TRIAL // Robert Barbour spent 12 years on a transplant list to receive a kidney, and when he finally received the call he was waiting for, he nearly missed the transplant because of a flat tire.
Early in the morning of March 12, Robert was heading from Bradenton to a Tampa hospital accompanied by his friend and caregiver Arnette German when he suddenly realized that a tire of the car went flat. It was around 5:30 a.m. in the morning, and his operation was set for 6 a.m. at Tampa General Hospital.
They had very little time until the appointment, so Barbour decided to keep driving on the tire's rim as German called 911.
“We’re not that far from Tampa General but his tire became flat and I don’t know how to change the tire. He’s panicking,” Arnette told the emergency services operator.
According to Yahoo News, a police car was sent to their location shortly, and Tampa Police officers Jason DeRocco and George Boyd took Barbour and German to the hospital in the back seat of their cruiser, with lights and sirens blaring.
There were only a few minutes left until the scheduled operation, so officers decided to escort them to the hospital because changing the tire would have taken longer.
Footage from the police vehicle shows that Barbour was really content that he would make it to Tampa General on time, as he literally smiled the entire way.
“I started getting excited because I knew we were going to get there on time and you know I didn't expect when we got to the hospital that the police was going to escort me to the operating room, but you know that was real fun,” Barbour recalls.
In the end, Barbour arrived at the hospital in time and received his new kidney. After the surgery, he contacted the Tampa Police Department to thank the two officers for being there when he needed help the most.
It was only then discovered that DeRocco and Boyd never actually mentioned the incident at the office, because they considered that helping the man was part of their duty. They were praised by Police Chief Jane Castor for their good deed and modesty.
Officer DeRocco said, “After looking at this awesome smile from the video I have to say that there's some things in this life that you can't put a value on, that are just essentially priceless, and that was one of them.”