ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In Rochester’s Genesee patrol section is a police officer known for his good deeds in the community.

Jim Laruez is a 15-year veteran with the Rochester Police Department.

"I just like dealing with people. I like the fact that I can help them, not necessarily fix them, but I can help them, and you know, anyone can do that. But I get a chance to do that every day," said Laruez.

As a way to help people, Officer Laruez carries around special gifts in his patrol car.

"Well, I carry toys around for the little kids that I see in my area," he said.

The officer says the toys can come in handy when trying to cheer up children at incidents, or just trying to soften the situation.

"They love the toys, and it’s important that they know they can come up to us and depend on us," he said.

Along with toys, Officer Laruez carries around socks for the homeless, but during the last week of January, his help came in a different form near the Tops on West Avenue in Rochester.

"I was driving down West Avenue heading to a call, and to my right I saw a lady in a wheelchair stuck in the snow just on the street," said Laruez.

The temperature was in the low 30s and there were several inches of lake snow that Tuesday.

The officer immediately pulled over to help, covering her with his coat.

"And he pushed me from Tops on Main Street all the way to here where I live, and then he came back an hour later to check on me," said Virginia Mora of Rochester.

Mora is grateful for Officer Laruez because she has stage four cancer. She believes she would be dead if it wasn’t for officer Laruez helping her.

"It makes me feel like there are still wonderful police officers out here, because nobody would stop, that man stopped for me, that man did all of that, and I didn’t expect him to do as much as he did," she said.

Officer Laruez didn’t know he was helping one of his own, someone who also took the oath to protect and serve.

Mora was one of the first women police officers in New York City.

"My heart just dies every time I see him, I call him my giant teddy bear, if it wasn’t for this man right here," she said.

Officer Laruez says he’s overwhelmed by appreciation Mora has for him.

"Many of my coworkers and I, we do this to help people in our community, no one is going to see that, no one is going to see a lot of it, but it goes on every day," Laruez said.

“From the bottom of this little heart that’s left, I love you and I thank you so much for what you have done for me,” she said.