A Walnutport police officer has been lauded for assisting a family by shoveling snow so a citizen with health issues could get out to go to the hospital.

Borough police Chief Jason Nothstein took time at Thursday’s borough council meeting to praise part-time Officer Tyler Todora-Cope for shoveling snow from a resident’s car during a medical emergency.

Nothstein said he wanted to “publicly commend” Todora-Cope for being “very gracious” in cleaning someone’s car.

Several weeks ago, Kelly Mae Carwell of Emerald, posted on Slatington, Walnutport, Emerald, Slatedale — In the Know ... Unchained, posted the merits of the Walnutport Police Department.

“I would like to give a huge thank you to the Walnutport police,” she said. “The officer who responded to my mom’s medical emergency today went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Carwell added, “He helped shovel the snow so my mom’s boyfriend (he has health issues) could get out and go to the hospital. He was so kind and a true blessing.”

The Walnutport Police Department then posted on its Facebook page that its department “would like to acknowledge and commend Officer Tyler Todora for going above and beyond for our borough resident today.”

“Our officers often go to great lengths to assist our borough residents out, but doesn’t normally get acknowledged by the public, which we don’t mind because we don’t do these sort of services for attention or acknowledgment, we do it because we truly do care about our residents and are always willing to lend a helping hand for the better good.

“Once again, great job Officer Todora. We are very proud of you.”

Contacted via email, Todora-Cope said, ”Assisting the resident was simply the right thing to do.

“Our department serves a small community and part of that service means stepping in when someone needs help, even when it falls outside of a traditional law enforcement role,” Todora-Cope said. “The goal was to ensure the resident could safely receive medical care, and I was glad to help in any way possible.

Todora-Cope added, “This specific situation reflects the mindset of all our officers, and I’m proud to be with a department that is willing to do what it takes to keep our residents safe and to look out for one another. That commitment is something our department takes seriously every day ... even when others aren’t watching.”

Contacted Friday morning, Carwell said her mother had the medical emergency because she was having a stroke.

Carwell said her mom’s boyfriend is disabled, so he couldn’t shovel the car out himself as it would have taken him a long time.

“The officer, out of sheer kindness, shoveled him out,” Carwell said. “It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

Carwell said thankfully her mother is at home recovering.

“I feel like a lot of times police officers get this rough rap, and nowadays even teenagers, a lot of them are afraid to approach police officers because they’ve been taught that they’re going to be treated unfairly or wrong,” she said. “I just feel like that they do such much more than protect and serve; they go out of their way to make sure that the community is safe and they risk their lives doing that, and they deserve a lot of credit.”