‘Grandma made me do it’

Sometimes lessons that we learn growing up are the same lessons that chart our course in life and make us better persons.

A video posted by a grateful citizen, showing a policewoman carrying a 91-year-old man to a vaccination centre at Bahia Principe Hotel in Runaway Bay, St Ann, last Saturday, has highlighted the good that still remains in some of us and has cast the constable, and indeed the entire Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), in a positive light.

The female officer at the centre of attention, Woman Constable Torra Lawrence, a St Thomas native, joined the JCF in December 2019 and is now based in Ocho Rios, assigned to the Marine Police Division.

Lawrence thinks nothing of helping an elderly person in need, and never expected much attention from her unselfish action. Indeed, she thought it had all ended at Bahia after she left. Why she did it though, is quite another matter.

“I grew up with my grandmother and my grandfather, and my grandmother was crippled for some years, quite a bit of years,” Lawrence related to The Gleaner on Monday afternoon.

EXPERIENCE with grandmother

“Over the years, taking her to the doctor, I would have had the experience of having to lift her from the house to the vehicle, sometimes up staircases, to get to the doctor’s office; so my grandma was one of the main reasons that, when I saw him, I reached out to help,” Lawrence explained.

Lawrence was on duty with other officers at the location when she noticed an elderly gentleman walking with a female, but not looking very sturdy, so she approached them and enquired if they were OK.

She described what happened: “The woman informed me that he wasn’t able to go any further and by the time she said that, he started leaning forward, so I held on to him and I asked him, ‘Do you trust me?’ to which he said ‘Yes’.”

“And I asked him a second time, and he said yes again. So, I looked at him and I said, Do you trust me enough to carry you?’ He said yes and I said, Are you sure?’ He said yes, so I took off my hat and I gave it to the lady that was accompanying him, and I also took his cane and I handed it to her. So, I lifted him and I started walking towards the main entrance.”

Lawrence had no idea as to his weight or distance travelled, or any other factor for that matter.

“I just had it in my head that he needed to get to the main gate,” she pointed out.

She estimates that she might have been carrying him for about a minute before a man started videotaping her actions.

“There was this gentleman that was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to record this,’ and he started recording; and no, I don’t know him. And sometime after walking for a while, he offered to help, so I said okay and I gave the gentleman to him.”

Lawrence said while carrying the man, who she estimates weighs maybe between 120 and 130 pounds, her mask made it a bit difficult for her to breathe.

UNEXPECTED ATTENTION

She was not prepared for the attention her action has garnered, she said.

“I thought it would have ended at the hotel, because after it happened the gentleman who recorded it, he kept saying to me, ‘You are my hero.’ But I didn’t think it would have been posted and would’ve gotten this big now,” she admitted.

Later, she saw the man and the lady and they spoke, during which time they both expressed appreciation for her help.

But who was this man? She said that someone who apparently knew him said he was 91, but that’s about all she knows about him and his companion.

“I don’t know them, I don’t even know their names,” Lawrence said. She added: “I’m happy with what I did. It wasn’t done for attention, but I’ll continue to just be me, do good and continue to learn from my superiors.”

Commandant for St Ann Superintendent Dwight Powell expressed delight at Lawrence’s deed.

“Many unsung heroes in Jamaica are people who don’t like the spotlight, but people who get out there to do what we can to assist, especially the less fortunate,” Powell said.

“So, I’m very gratified to have such a member working in the St Ann Division. When I spoke with the commissioner this morning, the commissioner was very pleased with the effort of the woman constable, knowing that she didn’t do it for any glory at all,” he added.