El Paso County Sheriff’s Office deputy helps a woman in need

The kindness of an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office deputy over the weekend is gaining attention online.

On Saturday, Patt Hansen wrote on Facebook that she lost her wallet.

She included a photo of Deputy Mendez standing outside of a Howdy’s convenience store.

“He gave me $20 for … gas and $20 so I could get something to eat,” Hansen wrote in her post. “He won’t even let me pay him back.”

Hansen said she is “thoroughly grateful” to Mendez.

ABC-7 spoke with Hansen about the deputy’s act of kindness.

Hansen is a realtor and says she went to work with her car running on an empty gas tank.

“In my infinite wisdom, I went to work with no gas. I lost my wallet in a subdivision where it’s all new homes, nobody is around,” Hansen said.

Hansen’s husband was out of town, so she didn’t know how she was going to get home.

“All I could think of was that I was going to sleep in a house that didn’t have any heat overnight to get home,” Hansen said.

But that’s when Deputy Mendez spotted Hansen and offered to help.

He escorted Hansen to a nearby gas station where he paid for $20 worth of gas and also gave Hansen an additional $20 so she could buy dinner.

“Deputy Mendez I just want to tell you thank you very much from the bottom of my heart,” Hansen said. “You’re a wonderful person. Evidently your mother raised you right and of course you live in El Paso, so that just automatically comes with the territory.”

Hansen’s post had nearly 3,000 interactions Monday morning.

“There are decent police everywhere,” Grace Rubio replied on Facebook.

Many of the more than 190 comments offered praise and blessings to Mendez and law enforcement officers.