People Couldn't Believe What They Were Seeing, But This Cop Knew What He Had To Do

June 21, 2015

Drivers and residents along State Route 546 in Washington saw what appeared to be a slow-speed pursuit this week and started posting photos and videos to social media.

Video showed what looked like a trooper trying to pull over an elderly woman driving a motorized cart on the highway.

"What it looked like at the time was this older lady on a Rascal cruising down the road. The cop car with the lights flashing going behind her is what caught my attention," said Andrea Ruth, whose office faces the highway, where the speed limit is 45 miles an hour. "You can't make that stuff up."

Troopers were inundated with phone calls. They later revealed it wasn't a typical police pursuit.

"I wasn't trying to stop her. I wasn't trying to detain her. I was just trying to get her back to her home," said Trooper Dave Hintz with the Washington State Patrol. "I just treated her the way I would've wanted somebody to treat my mom."

The woman had gone out for coffee, but got lost while trying to get home, troopers said. When Hintz caught up with her, she was nearly four miles from her house and continuing to head in the wrong direction.

The dash cam video below shows Hintz's interaction with the woman.

It took more than an hour to get the woman back home, with the duo heading down the state highway at about 3 miles per hour.

"Our motto with the State Patrol is service with humility," Hintz said. "This particular case took a little more patience and humility, but I wouldn't have done it any differently."