GLENDALE, AZ — Earlier this month, Valley police officers encountered a woman who was stuck at a hotel after someone stole her wheelchair. The officers stepped up to help.
Body camera video from Glendale Police Department shows officers approaching a woman at a motel near 59th and Glendale avenues.
The department says someone told them the woman, Jenny Mock, was trespassing.
Mock says she wanted to hide.
"Because when they come up on you, they always give you a ticket, ask you to leave or throw you out, you lose all of your stuff or just take you to jail,” said Mock.
She says nine times out of 10, being face-to-face with an officer doesn't end well. But this time was different.
"Yeah! I met some nice officers that had a lot of empathy for me,” added Mock.
She is a quadruple amputee after going into septic shock in 2012.
"This parasite had a flesh-eating bacterium with it. I was on seven-days-a-week dialysis, nine blood transfusions, and passed away three times," added Mock.
But, she is here and living with no hands or legs.
"I don't even say I am disabled. I say we are all disabled though. Mine are just really obvious to the eyeball,” added Mock.
The eyes and hearts of the two officers who went to move Mock made a difference for her.
"So, officers are still human. There is a sense of compassion and empathy when we come across scenes like this. We don't just want to tell them to just move along. The reality is they are going to move to another location and so will the same issue to that location,” said Glendale Police Officer Gina Winn.
Mock, who shielded herself from the cold and rain while under a tarp, was stuck.
Police say someone stole her wheelchair.
"Four times in a year! They steal my wheelchair every time I get out of them since I know I can't chase them with no legs. The homeless people out here are pretty cruel to me,” added Mock.
Police called on their partner, Angels on Patrol, for help.
"Our organization is that simple. If an officer has been in a situation and they say, 'can you do x, y, or z,' we try to make it happen,” said Melinda Cadena with Angels On Patrol.
The organization donated an electric wheelchair and put Mock in a motel for a few days.
"It makes me feel like I am important again. You know? I didn't feel important, but like I was overlooked every day. So, it makes me feel wonderful,” added Mock.
"After we saw that body camera footage, I started crying because we answered the call and helped. But, we don't ever really see what they are doing. That footage just broke my heart,” added Cadena.