Police are thanking a Good Samaritan for his quick thinking in helping reunite a missing woman with her family.
On May 4 at approximately 5:45 p.m., members of the Ontario Provincial Police Chatham Detachment were called to the westbound Highway 401 near Communication Road in Chatham for a report of a car broken-down by the road.
According to police, a Good Samaritan stopped to help the motorist, and once he spoke to the driver, determined the motorist needed additional assistance and called police.
Police say officers determined that a family member of the 82-year-old from Waubaushene had contacted the Southern Georgian Bay OPP Detachment at approximately 4:10 p.m. the same day to report the individual as missing.
Ryan Smith of Amherstburg was the Good Samaritan that called police.
He was coming back with his family from the Kitchener area and stopped to help the woman.
Smith says the woman had mentioned her car had broken down but after assisting her, noticed the vehicle was out of gas.
He says he got her gas but also wanted to do a 'wellness check' because something didn't sit right for him.
Smith says he started to ask questions and it became apparent that she wasn't sure where she was going.
That's when Smith called police, because he was uneasy letting her get behind the wheel.
He says officers were helpful and kind and he was shocked to learn the woman was reported missing.
Smith says when he stopped, it was a sad situation at first.
"She asked why I stopped and I said while I guess I had good parents and she said yeah you sure did, thanks for the guess and I said but I'm just going to have you wait here because the police are going to come and help out and she was fine with all that," says Smith. "She was super kind, a really nice lady. She had a little bit of sass which was funny too because I had my sunglasses on, she said you got to take those off, I can't see where you're looking."
He says it was a unique situation.
"I was shocked when they said you did a really good job, this is actually a missing person," he says. "It sort of floored me and went holy cow and it was a really good lesson, I have a six, five and three-year-old daughter and it was a really good lesson for them to see why people should be stopping and helping other people out and why it's important to be a Good Samaritan."
Smith says it's nice to get the thanks from police but he likes to teaching aspect of the situation for his kids.
"I want my girls to understand spreading good in the world has positive results to it and the reward for me is how good I feel inside that's she's reunited with her family that they're not seating their worried sick about somebody that they love," says Smith.
The missing individual was assessed and transported to a local hospital by ambulance as a precaution.
The police thanked Smith for his help as he assisted and say the call to police helped the missing woman be located, and the family was notified.