PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Two waste management workers are being recognized as heroes after they went above and beyond during their daily routine, Waste Management driver Alex Galarza and assistant driver Paulino Ortega who saw an elderly man in distress during their morning route.
During their normal morning route, the pair saw something they thought was out of the ordinary, upon a closer look, they realized what it was that’s when they sprung into action, "There was a person next to it, laying down," Ortega recalling when he first saw the elderly man in distress, underneath a golf cart at 5:30 Monday morning.
Ortega right away, turning to his partner Galarza, "We pulled him out from underneath the golf cart and at 5:30 in the morning it’s freezing cold, you’re talking about 50 degrees, he was in shorts and a t-shirt," Galarza said.
After making sure he was alright, the men asked if they could call or go get anyone, Galarza surprised to find out the man was alone, "We went to his house and grabbed blankets and called the ambulance right away."
The two say they’re no heroes, they were just helping their neighbors, "No one knows what could have happened, it was very cold," Ortega said, "We just hope to god he’s ok," Galarza added, "We thought one more hour there, who know’s what could have happened."
I did reach out to Charlotte County EMS and they did confirm to that they did respond to a call of an 83-year-old man in distress at 5:44am on Monday morning and transported him to the hospital.
While the man declined to go on camera, he says he is ok and he's thankful to the waste management men who helped him.
