Phoenix Police sergeant takes wife on ride along, ending in canal rescue of family

PHOENIX - An emergency situation unfolded on Feb. 28 as a Phoenix Police sergeant was hosting a ride-along with his wife, and luckily she was there to help him as he and other officers rescued a family after they crashed into a canal.

Officers call it the "ride-along curse." As soon as someone is in the car with them, nothing happens, but this time, something did, and officers had some extra help.

Phoenix Police Sgt. Jason Malecki brought his wife Allison along to work with him for a ride-along.

"I was patrolling Maryville. It was a slow night," he said. That's until they got the call of a car into a canal.

They knew they would have to act quickly as the first ones on the scene.

"The door opened and I was running. He knew immediately he wanted to get the rope," Allison said.

Body-cam footage shows Malecki grabbing the rope rushing over to assist other officers. He grabbed a crying child, quickly passing her over to Allison.

"Just being able to have her there to hand the baby off to – I was handing her off to someone safe and then that gave my attention to help the other officers," he said. "It was really shocking to see a full dodge wrangler on its side with water rushing around it, airbags deployed, headlights were on."

Officers pulled the driver and the passenger out with the water rushing past the overturned vehicle.

Malecki says it could have been so much worse and even though Allison hears the stories of what her husband does for a living every day, it was another thing to see a rescue like this firsthand.

"His priority is always the safety of his squad and the people he is trying to help," Allison said.