ARVADA, Colo. -- It’s rare that a mistake by a mail carrier can change someone’s life for the better. But it happened in Colorado.
Mail carrier Ben Garcia has a rural route in west Arvada. On Sunday, he was delivering packages and filling in on a route that is normally staffed by a different person.
“It was my last package for the day and I turned down the wrong road,” he said.
Moments earlier, 74-year-old Connie Nolan had slipped and fallen on her concrete driveway. She had a broken leg. No one was around in her neighborhood to help.
“And that's when I saw the U.S. mail truck,” Nolan said. “And I said, 'dear God please make him turn on his left hand signal.' And he did.”
“And I ran up to her and asked how I could help,” Garcia said.
He helped her off the driveway, called a family member, and waited for help to arrive.
“He could have saved my life,” Nolan said.
“I was just there at the right time, right place” Garcia said.
But he didn't want to be called a ‘hero.’ Partially because he says he was just going his job. Nolan says because he already earned that designation.
Ben Garcia was deployed in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army and was awarded a Purple Heart.
“I will bless and cherish him forever,” Nolan said.