Elderly Driver gets roadside assistance from officers

When 77 year old Tim Fauquier dropped his wife at her salon appointment in New Edinburgh last Saturday afternoon, the last thing he expected to happen was that a police officer would be changing his tire.

“I had just gone through the traffic circle at the Governor General’s residence when I heard a pop, pop, pop sound,” said Mr. Fauquier.

The retired overseas fraud investigator put his hazard lights on and waited for roadside assistance.

Given his location in front of 24 Sussex, Ottawa Police Patrol Sgt. David Brennan happened by and stopped to see if he was all right.

“I told him I had already called CAA, but he offered to take a look,” said Mr. Fauquier, who uses a walker and couldn’t get close enough to examine the damage. “Sure enough, there was a hole in my left front tire you could stick your finger through.”

Sgt. Brennan told him, ‘I can probably do it faster’, and he got the spare out of the trunk.

As the tire was being changed, an RCMP officer stopped to help. He ensured other road users could safely get by while Sgt. Brennan worked.

In about 15 minutes, Mr. Fauquier was on his way again.

“Both officers may think it wasn’t a big deal, but in my experience, it’s always the little things that matter,” said Mr. Fauquier.  “It was a kind and decent thing to do. Sgt. Brennan could have just waited for roadside service, but he didn’t. I was very touched.”