It’s no secret that cops tend to get a bad rap. Whether it’s because of the way some media outlets focus on their faults, or just the fact that nothing makes your stomach drop more than seeing red and blue lights in your rearview mirror, police officers aren’t always praised as the good guys that they really are.
Until this week when Autumn Snyder’s car broke down, and the superhero that saved the day was a local police officer.
She shared the experience on Facebook, praising the cop for going above and beyond the call of duty:
“Yesterday on our way home, we broke down 2 hours away from home…on a busy interstate with three kids in tow. It wasn’t exactly ideal, especially with a hungry newborn. I wouldn’t get the baby out of his seat to feed him in case we got smacked by another vehicle on the highway, he was the safest in his seat. We called dispatch and AAA and an Alabama State Trooper showed up to help. I thought he was just going to divert traffic away from our lane, but he did so much more than that. He loaded the kids and I in his car and got us off the highway and to the closest rest stop.”
Autumn says her husband, Sean, stayed with the car to wait for the tow truck, while the officer brought her and the kids down to the station—getting them off the side of the highway, out of the dark and Alabama heat.
Even at the station, the police officer wasn’t finished.
“He checked the bathroom for ‘boogiemans’ so Madeline could use the restroom. He shot illuminating helicopters in the sky with the kids while I made calls to try to get home. Major got really fussy when I was trying to wrangle my other children and calm them down from the evenings happenings. Without hesitation, he took Major out of his seat and gave him the bottle I had prepared from earlier. It seemed like he does that everyday, knew how to hold him and when to burp him. Major even filled his pants during his feeding and the trooper laughed and continued feeding him
He then helped unload all of our stuff from our car to his and drove our family to the nearest hotel. It was late, nothing was open, and we couldn’t get a rental car until the morning. He helped unload our unruly amount of crap into our hotel room, told us where all the rental car places were, gave the girls a hug, and told us to call if we needed anything.”
How’s that for serving and protecting the community?
The state trooper didn’t have to do anything but redirect traffic—in the interest of keeping the Snyder family and those on the road safe. But he did so much more!
Autumn closes her post with a short and simple statement that couldn’t ring more true:
“That my friends…is humanity.”
Thank a police officer in your community today. It’s their duty to serve and protect, but it’s their honor to care.
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