Paramedics thought El Paso woman had fallen, end up helping in another way

EL PASO, Texas -- Life Ambulance Service's emergency medical technicians were dropping off a patient at a nursing home when they thought they saw a senior citizen lying on the ground.

The paramedics instinctively pulled over to see if the woman was all right.

With Mary Ann Walley on the ground a few feet from her automatic wheel chair, the EMTs believed she had fallen and was in need of emergency care.

When they got closer to Walley, they realized she was actually pulling weeds in her front yard.

The EMTs assessed Walley to make sure she was not suffering from heat exhausted and that her vital signs were stable.

Then, the three paramedics got down on their hands and knees and began helping Walley pull her weeds.

“We had initially thought that she had fell from her wheel chair - but she said she was just pulling the weeds from her yard, so we asked her if she was OK - if she needed water or anything.  She said no, she was OK, so we decided to help her and pull the weeds with her,” said Jennifer Rodriguez of Life Ambulance Service.

Walley, a retired federal employee, told ABC-7: “I thought it was great.  I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know who they were. Then, they jumped out and started pulling weeds with me. I still got a bunch if anybody's interested.”