95-year-old man gifted new air conditioner by Texas police officers

FORT WORTH, Texas — Sweltering heat in Fort Worth, Texas last week led one man to call police for some help.

"This wasn't a regular 911 call," Fort Worth Officer William Margolis told CBS News. "It was what you'd label 'low priority' because we're not AC techs."

Julius Hatley's air conditioner unit was broken. He woke up sweating Thursday when it stopped working.  KTVT reported that the 95-year-old man kept cool by sitting out on his front porch.

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"He called 911 because, to him, it was an emergency. With the heat, it's definitely (an emergency)," Margolis told KDFW.

Margolis and his partner Christopher Weir stopped by Hatley’s residence after responding to some other calls and discovered that his central and window air conditioning units were not working.

“When we got there around 8:30 a.m. his house was 85 to 90 degrees already,” Margolis said.

The two discussed what to do and decided to stop by Home Depot and ask employees for help finding a proper air conditioning unit for the World War II veteran.

Employees were so moved by the officer’s act of kindness that they chipped in for the effort.

"While there, Home Depot managers and employees decided to contribute $150 of their own money to help with the cause," Weir's wife, Jennifer, wrote on Facebook. "This is what being an officer is about."

“He was actually really excited,” Margolis said. “He said he knew if he needed help to call 911 and we actually were able to help him, so he was really excited about it.”

Even better, Jennifer Weir told CBS News that a company came forward to replace Hatley’s central air conditioning unit at no cost.

“We are also currently working on getting his windows replaced, his house repainted and groceries every week,” she said.

“This is what we do the job for,” Weir told . We don’t do it to issue citations and arrests, we do it to help people. We got to see some humanity today and makes all of us feel good.”

Cox Media Group