Officer Embraces Infant at Car Crash in Touching Photo

Elise Sole
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A scary three-car collision produced a powerfully touching moment that’s now gone viral: an image of a police officer holding a baby girl dressed in pink amidst the wreckage.

In the photo, taken Tuesday, police officer Ric Lindley of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Leeds, Ala., is seen cradling the infant after she was rescued from a crash involving two cars, an ambulance, and an 18-wheeler. The sheriff’s office posted it to Facebook, where it’s already racked up more than 23,000 likes, 8,000 shares, and 1,000 comments, including, “A dad in uniform….is still a dad.” Other supporters wrote, “Such an act of compassion,” and, “There, right there, is a real law enforcement officer.”

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Yahoo Parenting could not reach Lindley for comment. However, the grandfather and former U.S. Army Green Beret insists that his actions don’t warrant extra attention. “I did nothing heroic,” Lindley, 60, told Al.com. “All I did was hold a baby.”

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Lindley and his partner, Tim Sanford, were the first to arrive on the scene of the crash (which produced no serious injuries). Lindley saw a young mother leaning against a car holding her baby. “I asked if she was OK,” Lindley told Al.com. “She was pretty well shaken up, so I asked her if I could hold the baby. The baby was fine because she had been buckled in a car seat, but she was upset to start with. After I held her and walked a bit, she quieted down.”

It’s no surprise that Lindley’s paternal instincts kicked into high gear. As a father of three and grandfather of seven, “I put those skills to work and calmed the baby down. She had a very sweet little personality,” he said. Lindley added that he held the baby girl for an hour and a half to allow the mother to gather herself. “She’s a young mother, and this was probably extremely traumatic for her. She was having a rough time from an emotion standpoint.”

Lindley isn’t the only law enforcement official whose protective instincts have made them Internet sensations lately: In July, police officer Michael Castillo of Ansonia, Conn., was photographed on his knees fixing a bike chain for a young boy outside of a Target store. Originally called to the scene because of a reported fight, once he arrived, he learned the boys were all friends and that one of their bike chains was twisted. A passerby snapped a photo of Castillo and the boys and posted it to the police department’s Facebook page where it received 15,000 likes and more than 400 shares. And in September, a photo of Chicago cop Sergeant B. Hagarty buying a Chipotle meal for a homeless man after seeing him Dumpster diving went viral, with more than 30,000 likes and more than 12,000 shares.

As for Lindley, who says, if he could afford it, “I’d have 100 kids,” he doesn’t seem fazed by his newfound fame. “I’m just a dad and a grandfather,” he told Al.com. “That’s about it.”

(Photo: Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office)

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