Brian George never thought he’d be escorted to the back of a police cruiser in the days following his brain surgery.
But that’s exactly where he found himself Friday night, after he became stuck on a snow-covered sidewalk in Halifax.
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George, who uses a wheelchair, had major surgery Tuesday afternoon to fix a shunt in his head that stopped working. He was discharged Friday night, but that’s when his real adventure began.
Despite living in close proximity to the hospital, George and his fiancée didn’t have a way home. So they decided to brave the Halifax sidewalks.
“Because of the state of the sidewalks, sure enough, we got stuck,” George says.
The couple turned around and luckily spotted a police cruiser. The officer then got out of the vehicle and offered to give the couple a ride home.
“She jumped into action immediately. It wasn’t even a question,” says George.
“If that cop hadn’t picked us up last night, it would have taken us at least 30 minutes to get home,” George believes. “Because of my surgery we had to go very slow, watching out for every bump and everything on the road. The path we would have taken would have led us through all this ice.”
“It would have killed me.”
Now, George is on a mission to find the officer to properly express his gratitude.
“She didn’t so much ask, ‘Can I give you a ride home?’ It’s ‘I’m giving you a ride home.’ They went above and beyond.”
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Sidewalk struggles
The Halifax Regional Municipality has taken some heat in recent days over the current state of many sidewalks. Mountains of snow and ice have clogged sidewalks and blocked paths, so much so that city councillors themselves have said the conditions are simply unacceptable.
Councillor Shawn Cleary told Global News on Wednesday that snow-clearing standards need to change after he fielded dozens of emails, phone calls and social media posts about the state of the sidewalks and roadways.
That’s a sentiment echoed by George, who can speak to the sidewalk struggles better than anyone.
“I’ve been here four and a half years and every year it seems to be an issue,” he said. “We get a snowstorm and they say, ‘Well, you have 48 hours until we clear everything,’ and I don’t see how that’s right. That’s 48 hours. You have someone with accessibility issues who can’t make it to work, can’t go out and live their life. They can be housebound for two or three days because of that.”
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The municipality is now promising penalties as punishment for blocked sidewalks, but George says that needs to happen sooner rather than later.
“It’s not just me. It’s not just people in wheelchairs. It’s people with walkers, with strollers, people with a bum leg; you name it,” said George.
“Why they aren’t all on the bandwagon of getting this fixed, I have no idea.”
— With files from Jesse Thomas.