Kind-hearted Malaga cops source special bed for elderly woman seriously injured in hit-and-run accident

Born and raised in Portugal, 74-year-old María Elena has lived half her life in Malaga. Having lost her daughter some time ago, she has been relying on the assistance provided by her husband since a hit-and-run accident involving a motorbike left her with a broken hip and two broken wrists.

It was 9.15am four months ago and she had gone shopping. Of the accident, she only remembers the roar of the crash, the blood and the police, who must have been nearby as they arrived quickly. She was taken to the city's Clínico hospital. They discharged her at 8pm, but she could barely move. With her husband, they went back to her flat on Carretera de Cádiz, right as the summer was starting and the temperatures were rising. María Elena was left lying facedown on the bed, day and night, in a room without an air conditioner.

Although they were not mobilised to the scene on the day of the incident, the accident investigation group of the city's Local Police force heard about the crash. After failing to reach her over the phone, they went to María Elena's flat, where they found her "helpless" and in urgent need of an adapted bed.

Without hesitation, officers Valentín Payán and Antonio Manuel García started meeting outside of work to try and find an orthopaedic bed that would improve the injured woman's quality of life. Payán, who collaborates with several associations, remembered that a neighbour of his had once told him to look out for her if he needed a wheelchair. He thought that she could maybe help him with the bed as well.

The mission was successful and the police turned up at Malía Elena's flat with the solution. "She started crying with joy," Payán said. She was bedridden for two and a half months. Now, four months have passed and the elderly woman can stand up, move around, although still with difficulty, and put food in her mouth with the two fingers that the bandage leaves uncovered after her husband breaks it into small pieces for her.

She no longer needs the orthopaedic bed, but she still has a long way to recover. There is a chance that she might never regain mobility in her hands, but she does acknowledge how far she has gone with the help of the police. "They brought me the bed and set it up," she said when the police returned to her flat to take the bed back to its owner. "I am very grateful, I love them like my family," María Elena said.

The two officers were happy to see that María Elena is improving, but they kindly declined her offer when she asked how much she owed them. Instead, she promised to give them a bag of chestnuts from her plot in Ronda.

Alejandro García highlighted the more human side of the police, which is often not so visible. Although his team is mostly known for preventing accidents and carrying out arrests to preserve order, they also perform "smaller" gestures that range from "lifting an elderly person's shopping bag to interventions" like the one in María Elena's case.

With the help of her old-fashioned mobile phone, María Elena has spread the word about the kind police officers who have helped her recover after she was hit by a motorbike while crossing the street. She wants the story to reach her friends and relatives in Portugal, who are hundreds of kilometres away.