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It was a classic scenario: A young man stopped to help an elderly woman cross the street.
But what Mountain View High School teacher Antonio Murillo didn’t know when he pulled his car over last Thursday was that Thelma Patton, 89, suffered from dementia and had wandered away from her assisted living facility, lost and confused.
Murillo had left for work a bit early that day when he saw Patton standing bewildered on Fremont Avenue.
“It seemed like she wanted to cross the street but she wouldn’t,” Murillo said, “and she looked like she was trembling. This is an older lady all by herself. I’m thinking, I’ll at least ask her if she needs help to cross the street.”
He parked his car, and asked if she needed help.
“And she said, ‘Well, I think so.'” Murillo recalled. Once she was in the car, he realized she didn’t even know where she lived. He pulled over and found an emergency bracelet on her wrist with two phone numbers. He tried the first — no answer. The second reached the hospital.
“At that point I gave them her information and they contacted her daughter,” Murillo said. “By then I had brought her to school. I figured the high school would be a much easier place for whomever to come and get her.”
Mary Chavez, security liaison, waited with Patton while Murillo headed to class.
“I got there as soon as I could get dressed,” said Patton’s daughter, Mary Ann Welch, 67. “Sure enough, there’s m
y mother, and there’s Mary watching over her.”
“I’m very, very, very grateful to Antonio,” Welch said. “In my opinion, he’s a hero and he saved my mom’s life.”
“He’s a teacher,” she added, “but he’s showing you how to be in life — and to me that is a real gift.”
“It really didn’t take much on my part,” Murillo said. “I’d want somebody to do that for me or someone I love.”
Antonio did what we all SHOULD do.. see a problem and solve it. Congrats to him.
All of us should always have an I.D. item with us. As one ages, the family should see to it that at least a bracelet or necklace with the I.D. info on it is with us at all times.
Aging One
This happens quite often, I’ve seen it myself and noted each time a “Hero” was helping. It’s just common human decency, I think there’s far more good people than bad out there, so not sure about the Hero definition, but that said, High five to you Antonio.
Good man.
Big deal
I was at the recycling center today and saw an elderly woman taking a bag out of her trunk, she looked a little unsteady, so I walked over and asked her if she would like a hand.
This teacher probably came to the U.S. on a student visa, if that, stayed here illegally until our dictators gave him amnesty. Why is this teacher here in the U.S. has anyone really checked his past in Mexico? For all we know he is a pedophile, on the run from mexico. But who cares, we have criminals in this country anyway, so why not let anyone, unchecked, move into our communities.
Just because someone is a teacher, police officer, judge etc. does not mean they are not criminals. From my experience ( 45 years ) it is often people in positions of authority that break laws, and go unchecked for years, then when the truth comes out, everyone sais, ” i would never have suspected him or her of being capable of doing such a crime ” Recently in the L.A. poloce department, a 25+ year female detective was arrested for the murder of her then Lovers wife. Foe 25+ years this woman arrested people, was accepted as a good person etc. but she is a murderer, was working as a police officer. I believe all teachers police and other in positions of authority should have there DNA taken and included in the FBI database.
Just my opinion
Wow, seems like there are some real whackadoos in Mountain View.
Good for Antonio Murillo for not being afraid to get involved. So many others would just turn away and pretend they saw nothing.
I apologize for the many absurd and offensive comments put here by an anonymous crazy person while decent people were only trying to read and comment on a nice story. I’ve taken them all down, and most of the responses as well.