A Florida sheriff’s deputy was sitting in her truck outside a gas station when she spotted three men grab onto a struggling elderly couple. The sight had the deputy jumping from her truck, and what was caught on video has gone viral.
Sheriff’s Deputy Kanesha Carnegie was sitting outside a Williston, Florida, gas station when she caught sight of a very frail, elderly woman struggling to reach her car as her geriatric husband, who happened to be 100 years old, stood bent over a walker nearby. The couple, later identified as Rose and David Griest, was making their way home after a doctor’s appointment in Orlando and had just stopped to use the restroom.
Rose had not been feeling well, and it showed. Weak and exhausted, she wasn’t stable on her feet. She shook with every step, something Carnegie could easily see. And, the deputy wasn’t the only one who noticed the shaky elderly couple. Three young men approached, and one of them took 89-year-old Rose by the arm. Deputy Carnegie initially jumped from her truck to help, but then, she stopped dead in her tracks, deciding to record what was happening instead.
Kanesha Carnegie realized the three young men, who were holding the elderly woman up and helping her to her car, had everything under control. She was so touched by what she was watching unfold, she took out her cellphone so others could enjoy what she felt privileged to witness. “I thought at the time they looked really beautiful and that was a nice view to see. I stepped back and just videoed them,” Carnegie told Inside Edition.
“They do a little rapping in the local community, so I know them and they know me,” she added, speaking about the helpful men, who she knew from the Levy County neighborhood where she’s been a deputy for 18 years. “They don’t have the greatest history,” the deputy admitted before adding, “And, that’s the beauty of it.”
Wanting to show others “who they really are,” Kanesha Carnegie posted the footage to social media, AJC reported. Although the deputy never anticipated the clip would go viral, it quickly racked up millions of views. “I thought it was more local for the community to see the effort they put forth in seeing a strange couple come through our town and not taking advantage of them,” Carnegie explained.
Indeed, what she captured proves beauty and kindness can be found in everyone, regardless of their past or their appearance. “You take it easy, momma,” one of the young men affectionately told Rose after picking her up under her arms to keep her from hitting the pavement as she gingerly tried to make her way to her vehicle.
“Thank you so much, fellas,” Rose’s husband David, who was hovering nearby as the men got his wife into the passenger seat, told the kind strangers. “I’m 100 years old,” David, a United States military veteran, added as he began to push his walker along the parking lot after Rose was safely in the car.
“That’s a good life!” one of the men exclaimed. Little did he or the other guys in the trio know, they were soon going to be a viral sensation, with everyone wanting to know who these kindhearted young men were. Carnegie identified them as Joc Koe Stoe, Marty, and Freddy G. “I kept thinking, ‘She could have been my grandmother,'” Marty recalled.
“I saw that old lady struggling and about to fall,” 26-year-old Joc explained, saying he and his friends didn’t hesitate to help after asking for the couple’s permission to assist them. “She was out of breath and so tired. She was so exhausted, I knew she wasn’t able to go much farther,” Joc recalled.
Of course, the humble young man doesn’t think what he and his friends did was a big deal. “It was just instinct,” he said. But, it’s not “just instinct” for everyone in society anymore, sadly. Not everyone stops whatever they are doing to help someone else who’s struggling and in need. In fact, some would even see a situation such as this as an opportunity to take advantage. So, these guys deserve every bit of the praise they are getting. Job well done, fellas.
