A photo of a Kentucky police officer helping a woman finish a race went viral over the weekend, and has inspired countless people around the world.
Lt. Aubrey Gregory of Louisville helped Asia Ford finish the last two miles of a 10K run on Saturday, and the pictures of them walking arm and arm have encouraged a nation frustrated with increasingly poor relations between white cops and black citizens.
Ford was participating in the 10K Rodes City Run, a 6.2-mile race, and had a personal goal of completing the event. She began working out two years ago after her then-husband had a hand amputated and went on dialysis due to diabetes complications.
The 35-year-old mother of three also suffered from health problems herself—including morbid obesity, an enlarged heart, and a bad knee that required a replacement. She has since lost 200 pounds, and completed the Rodes City Run last year.
This year, however, Ford had trouble breathing around the fourth mile of the race. "I couldn't catch my breath, and then it was like my vision started blurring up," she told The Courier-Journal. She gave her son, Terrance, her phone and "said if anything happens, I want you to dial 911."
Terrance called an ambulance, but Ford refused to get inside.
"I asked God, 'God, if you can just let me make it a couple of more miles,' and when I looked to the left, there was Officer Gregory," she recounted.
Lt. Gregory also admitted that their meeting was special.
"She immediately grabbed my hand and it was like electricity," he said in a press conference. "It just goes up your hand, up your arm, and I said, 'Are we gonna stop,' and she said, 'No,' and I said, 'Great cause we're going to do this together,' and that's what we did."
Terrance and Officer Gregory helped Ford walk the remaining two miles, and the captured moment of the trio approaching the finish line reflected more than the emotion felt by Ford.
"What a compassionate city looks like," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer tweeted.
