HOUGHTON COUNTY — Deputies Charlie Klein and Joe Pizzi were dispatched to conduct a medical lift assist on Dec. 18, at 5:24 p.m., in response to an elderly man who had fallen and needed assistance in getting up off the floor, according to Sheriff Brian McLean.

Emergency Dispatcher, Mary Grace Olson, later emailed McLean, explaining that she had dispatched the two deputies, because Mercy Ambulance Service was already on other other calls. In the email, she then disclosed the actions taken by the two deputies in reference to the call.

When the man fell in his home, he broke his TV. Olson said the man, whose name was not released, has no family in the area, or friends listed as caretakers, which was later confirmed by the gentleman’s medical alarm company.

According to Olson, the man, who was not injured in the mishap, had told her that watching TV is “pretty much” all he has to do in his life. It was at that point that Klein and Pizzi provided the elderly gentleman with a replacement TV and installed it for him, at their own expense.

Sheriff McLean said on Tuesday he spoke with Klein about the incident when he arrived at the Sheriff’s Office for his shift. Klein said he was going to purchase the gentleman a new TV, when his partner, Pizzi, said his son had two or three TVs in his bedroom, and Pizzi himself had a large one.

“So, he said: ‘We’ll just give it to the guy,'” McLean said. While Olson’s email had disclosed that the two deputies had purchased the TV, McLean said that was not quite accurate.

“They really didn’t buy it,” said McLean, “but what’s the difference? I mean they bothered to go (the man’s) house, and they got it installed.”

McLean said Klein told him he and Pizzi did not want anyone to know anything about it. But, the two deputies were on their way back to the gentleman’s home, McLean said Pizzi told him he was holding the TV in his arms so it would not be damaged, and he could not see anything down the road. He was sitting in the back seat of a truck when Olson radioed the two for assistance, and was told they could not respond immediately, because they were currently tied up, to which she asked what they were doing.

“‘Well, we had to tell her what we were doing, because we weren’t quite done yet,'” McLean said they told him. “So, sure enough! She told on them!” he added with a laugh.

In her email, Olson stated: “I, along with my partners, thought this was an example of the true meaning of Christmas.”