DAVIE, Fla. – A Davie police sergeant is fighting to recover after she was struck by a car while trying to help a suspected drunk driver whose SUV had crashed.
Sgt. Patricia Ravine is someone who her family and co-workers said keeps a bag of stuffed animals in the trunk of her patrol car to comfort children involved in situations she gets called to.
They describe her as an officer who will do anything to help someone else, and that's exactly what she was doing the night of Aug. 3 when she was seriously injured.
"She's very confused. It's just up and down," Ravine's husband, Sgt. Shawn Ravine, said.
Patricia Ravine was airlifted to Broward Health Medical Center after she was struck by a car on Interstate 75 south of Royal Palm Boulevard.
"Especially with the way things are going now in society, every day you wait for that phone call," her mother, Sandra Hardwick, said.
Ravine saw the SUV roll over and immediately stopped to help. But police said another driver failed to move over a lane and struck Ravine.
"They're out there helping someone else who is injured or hurt or sick or something, so give them that space and let them live. Let them come home to their families and their children," Hardwick said.
Ravine suffered head trauma and several other injuries. She is still in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation.
The 35-year-old mother, daughter, wife and veteran officer spent her birthday this week in the hospital.
Her mother said the amount of support received from the Davie Police Department, other agencies and the community is getting her through it all.
"Until it happens to you and you see that and you feel that, they make it possible for you never to leave her side," Hardwick said. "You can't even have words for that."
With continued prayers, Ravine's family is confident that she'll eventually be back at work doing what she loves.
"Ninety-nine point nine percent of police officers are just like Patty who want to help people," Shawn Ravine said. "They want to do right and protect our community, and that's what we do. That's why we take this job."
The man Ravine stopped to help, Alexander Vanhaute, was arrested on DUI charges, and the man who struck her was ticketed for careless driving.
Ravine had been with the Davie Police Department for 10 years.
A GoFundMe page was established by the Fraternal Order of Police to help pay for Ravine's medical costs.