You want this guy on your side
But on Monday, as Peck responded to the area of , it wasn't with his gun or handcuffs that he served the community. Rather it was with a simple gesture of holding a hand, and providing thoughtful words and a listening ear.
On Monday, Peck was just around the corner of 3650 South and 3200 West (Utah, USA) when a bus struck 24-year-old Aryann Smith in a crosswalk, pinning her underneath the large vehicle and severely crushing both of her legs.
When Peck got there, all he saw was a tennis shoe sticking out from underneath the bus.
"I figured that there was probably a victim lying on to the ground next to the bus or in front of the bus. And as I got a little bit closer, I could see a white tennis shoe underneath," he said.
As Peck assessed the situation, he quickly found out the woman had suffered severe injuries. The tall officer crawled underneath the bus himself to take the woman's pulse. But after he grabbed her hand, he didn't let go until fire crews were eventually able to lift the bus off of her and pull her out.
"She was very scared. She asked me not to leave. So I said I would just stay under there with her until we got her out. And she started telling me about her family and where she was headed. She was actually going to see a little boy who was being watched by her mother just down the road around the corner," Peck said.
"I told her that I would stay there."
"She was afraid she was going to die. And myself being under there, I'm just praying and hoping for some reason the bus doesn't move. We're right next to the tire underneath the bus, just trying to reassure her and keep her calm," he recalled.
Peck responds to accidents several times a day. But this was, for a reason he can't quite put his finger on, different. It reminded him, he said, of why he became a police officer in the first place: to make a difference.
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