"After 41 years, I finally got to thank the hero who saved me!"

When Cindy Zurchin was 17, she was in a horrific car accident. Police Sgt. Ralph Hoffman was first on the scene. Long after his retirement, he was still wondering if she was okay. Decades after the accident, he got his answer

- By Kellie B. Gormly

Cindy Zurchin was at a family friend's funeral last January, when she noticed an elderly man going from person to person, offering sympathetic hugs. There was something in his eyes that was so comforting. Cindy felt drawn to him.

"Do you know who he is?" she asked someone standing nearby.

"That's Ralph Hoffman," the person said and Cindy's breath caught.

Could it be him? she wondered.

Tapping his shoulder, Cindy asked, "Were you a Shaler police officer in 1981?"

"I was," Ralph said, and his eyes widened. "Oh, my God! You're that girl," he blurted in amazement.

A harrowing accident

Cindy was just 17 on April 21, 1981, when, while driving home from school, she was waiting to make a left turn off a major road and a car going 80 mph slammed into the back of her convertible. The impact propelled her car into the next lane, where it was struck again by a truck and Cindy was thrown 30 feet.

Sgt. Ralph Hoffman-a police officer for Shaler Township, north of Pittsburgh-had been driving in the opposite direction when the reckless driver flew past. Immediately, he made a U-turn, but it was too late. Billowing smoke loomed ahead.