Cop stays with woman dying in the street after accident
A family says a Philadelphia police officer went beyond the call of duty after their loved one was hit by a truck.
In late July, 80-year-old Maryalice McGrath was crossing the intersection of Ann Street and Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond. She had lived in the neighborhood all her life.
"She didn't drive many places, but she did walk often and she had gone that day to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription," said Maryalice's niece, Molly Quinn.
Police said Maryalice didn't see the truck and the truck driver didn't see her. Officer Francis Lynch was driving behind both of them.
"I immediately looked in my side mirror and I saw Maryalice laying in the crosswalk," Lynch said.
He called for backup and for an ambulance, but there wasn't much he could do to save her.
So he laid next to her for half an hour, in traffic, on the scorching July day while his own skin burned on the asphalt, too. He would later have to go to the hospital for treatment.
Officer Lynch doesn't think of himself as a hero. So Molly has another term.
"I think he was there for a reason and he was her guardian angel, and he went above and beyond the call of duty by just lying in the street next to this poor woman when she needed him," said Molly.
