Keller: Snowstorm Brings Out Best And Worst Of People

BOSTON (CBS) - The look on Betty Cuyugan's face was heartbreaking.

The 68-year-old Charlestown resident came home from two nights at her elderly husband's hospital bedside to find his handicapped parking space in front of their home had been plowed under with a mountain of ice and snow.

"This is mean-spirited and unkind at a time when you want to reach out to handicapped elderly folks," she said.

And sadly, the creep or creeps who did this are not alone.

The cops do their best to get the word out that failure to clear the snow off your car is punishable by a hefty fine, but scofflaws abound. A Massport camera caught a huge pile of snow flying off a car on the Mass Pike and smashing all over the highway; luckily, no one was close enough to have their life endangered by this rocket scientist's negligence.

And for selfish-jerk behavior, it will be hard to beat the guy, caught on a smartphone by an onlooker, busily removing the snow from his car and depositing it directly on his neighbor's vehicles.

"He's like a plow, throwing the snow on somebody else's car," observed the appalled cameraman.

It's enough to make you despair for humankind. Until you see the video we obtained of East Bostonians jumping in to rescue an MBTA bus from a snowbank.

It's a scene repeated all across our region, from Lynn Police Officer Ron Diaz helping a little girl and her family escape from their flooded-out car, to a guy caught on camera by the same neighbor who shot video of the selfish shoveler, carefully placing the snow from his spot into a bucket and walking it 20 yards down the street to a snowpile.

"Man, that's awesome, that's great," said the onlooker. Agreed.

And even Betty back in Charlestown sees both side of human nature.

"I have some neighbors who are very kind who called me up this morning and offered to shovel my sidewalk," she said.