Katie Cincotta and a group of friends nearly saw their graduation getaway derailed by a flat tire along one of Philadelphia’s busiest rush hour thoroughfares.
Luckily, Mayor Michael Nutter was there to lend a hand.
Katie, three friends from Our Lady of Mercy in Maple Glen, Pennsylvania and one of the girl’s mothers were on their way to Atlantic City International Airport Monday morning for a six-day trip to Naples, Florida to celebrate 8th grade graduation when their tire blew along Martin Luther King Drive in Fairmount Park around 8:30.
"Pray we get it fixed and make the flight," Katie texted her mother Christy Cincotta.
Katie, 14, said there was nowhere to pull over and that they were stuck on the roadway as cars buzzed by at up to 50 mph.
“We were all panicking because we thought we were going to get hit,” she said.
Suddenly a black SUV – very official looking – pulled up behind their disabled vehicle.
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“We all thought it was the CIA,” said Katie with a laugh. “All of a sudden we see three guys get out of the car in suits and we were panicking, we thought we were getting in trouble but then suddenly we saw Mayor Nutter.”
Nutter, who was on his way to work, approached the broken-down vehicle to check on everyone inside.
“He was making sure we were OK and he called the police for us… he was really nice,” said Katie.
Nutter worked his magic and called for officers to direct traffic.
“He was concerned for us,” said Katie.
As he made his calls, the excited friends – Katie said they screamed for joy once they saw it was the Mayor – grabbed photos of Nutter. After about 10 minutes, police showed up and the mayor left the girls in good hands as AAA arrived to fix the flat.
Luckily, the flight was delayed until 10:40 so Katie, Elizabeth, Maggie and Bryn and Elizabeth’s mom got on the flight on time and didn’t lose any days in sunny Florida.
“He really saved the day for us,” said Katie. “Without him calling the police and stuff we would have been taking our flight today.”
Nutter’s office pointed out this isn’t the first time the mayor came to the rescue along MLK Drive. A couple years back, he even called 911 to help a cyclist struck along the road.
