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Vigil for Critically Injured Scranton Patrolman

SCRANTON — A police officer is in critical condition after getting hurt chasing three teens in Scranton. Officials say the situation is grave. Supporters ...

SCRANTON -- A police officer is in critical condition after getting hurt chasing three teens in Scranton. Officials say the situation is grave.

Supporters held a candlelight vigil for Patrolman John Wilding earlier Saturday night outside of police headquarters on South Washington Street.

More than a 100 people came out to police headquarters for the vigil for Wilding.

How much of a difference can one person make? By looking at the crowd outside the Scranton police headquarters during a candlelight vigil, you'd learn that Patrolman John Wilding is one who's left his mark.

Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano said, "John is, and I won't speak in the past tense, John is a model police officer and he's doing what he loves to do."

Early Saturday morning, the chief says officers were chasing three juveniles on foot for a robbery that led them to the parking lot behind the Vault Tap and Kitchen on North Main Avenue.

According to a witness, Patrolman John Wilding then leapt over this ivy-covered wall and fell about 15 feet.

Paulie Deininger is a chef at nearby Charlie's West Side Cafe and says Wilding always made his presence felt on the city's west side as a foot patrolman.

She said, "Just cleaning it up. Everything he did there.. He's just a great guy overall."

Among the others outside praying for the father of two's recovery were members of St. Joseph's Center, where Wilding worked in maintenance for nine years before becoming a police officer.

"John was a hard worker he had a great work ethic. He would not wait to be asked to do something," said Sister Mary Alice Jacquinot, St. Joseph's Center. "He would anticipate what needed to be done."

The police chief calls Wilding passionate and dedicated and says in his first year with the department, Wilding almost never took a day off.

Patrolman John Wilding is still at Geisinger CMC, critically injured.

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