Tire Slashing In Frankford Leads To Amazing Act Of Kindness
By Syma Chowdhry, Jim Melwert, Steve Beck and Charlotte Huffman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It is often said that the best of people comes out during the most difficult times, and that is the case after a heartless act of vandalism in Northeast Philadelphia Wednesday morning.
The tires on at least 10 cars were slashed sometime Wednesday morning in the 5800 block of Akron Street in the city's Frankford section.
PHOTOS: From The Scene
All four tires on Dottie Roy's car were slashed.
"I don't have money to repair that ... I don't have the money to repair that," she said tearfully. "I don't know what I'm gonna do, I have no clue."
A KYW Newsradio listener heard her tearful plea and called and said she would pay for repairs to Roy's car.
"Thank you so much, whoever you are," Roy said. "This is what people should be like, not like whoever did all of this stuff."
WATCH: Dottie Roy's Joyful Reaction
Roy uses her to car to make her daily trip to visit her son for eight hours. He suffers from a brain injury at a nearby nursing home. When she learned all four of her tires were slashed overnight, Roy was left with no way to visit her son.
"My son has brain damage.... I have to go visit him for eight hours a day. Without tires I don't have a car," Roy said.
To make matters worse, Roy says since she's disabled she had no way of paying for repairs.
"It would've taken me six months or a year to save up enough for tires," she said.
Pat Patrizio lives miles away from Roy and heard her story on KYW Newsradio. Patrizio who makes a living as a nursing home hairdresser felt compelled to step in and help Roy.
She called KYW/CBS3 and offered to pick up Roy's tab.
Patrizio called Pep Boys who stepped up and split the cost.
By mid-afternoon Pep Boys had taken Roy's car to their shop to have the new tires put on the vehicle.
(Huffman:) How much is this going to cost you?
"I have no idea," Patrizio said.
Patrizio says it's not about the money but instead, it's about paying it forward.
"People need help and sometimes things come up unexpectedly and you don't have the money and it needs to be done. Someone who can do something should help you. It all comes around. Someone will probably do something nice for me. That's all," Patrizio said.
"Thank you, thank you you're my angel I love you," Roy said to the Good Samaritan she's never met.
Police are just beginning the investigation. They're hoping someone has surveillance cameras that may have caught whoever did this in the act.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
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