Officers Step In After Dad Accused of Shoplifting Shoes for Kids
Three generous cops are being honored this week for turning a bad situation into a beautiful one.
It all began when Sgt. Adam Lamb (seen on right, above) and his deputies, John Balowski (on left, above) and Kyle Boyd, of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office in Ludington, Mich., responded to a call from Walmart regarding a husband and wife who were accused of stealing hunting supplies and children’s shoes. Complicating matters was the fact that the couple was with their young kids.
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“The children looked to be ages 2 and 4. We found out through speaking with them that they were having an extremely difficult time financially, which is why they stole the items,” Sgt. Lamb told the Mason County Press on Tuesday. “The husband had hoped to harvest a deer with the hunting supplies and to put shoes on his kids’ feet.” When he noticed the children didn’t have on any footwear and asked the mother if they had any, she produced two very worn-out pairs of shoes with holes in them.
“The kids were crying and the 4-year-old kept asking us not to arrest their daddy,” Sgt. Lamb continued. “It’s always a tough position to be in, because when the law is broken we have to do our jobs. But it’s tough for kids to see their daddy get arrested. We don’t want kids to have the impression that police are people who take their parents away.”
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Their solution was heartwarming: First, they charged the father with third-degree retail fraud, a misdemeanor; later, the three pooled their money and bought shoes for the children, delivering them in person to the tearfully grateful mom.
“We weren’t looking for any recognition,” said Lamb. “Any one of the deputies in this department would do and has done the same thing.” Though the incident took place back on Oct. 6, word of the good deed just got back to the sheriff about a week ago, when a Walmart employee stopped by to express appreciation.
“The employee wanted [Sheriff Kim Cole] to know what kind of people he has working for him,” Chief Deputy Steve Hansen tells Yahoo Parenting. “And the sheriff thought they deserved recognition.” It’s why Cole spoke out to the local press.
“Adam, Kyle, and John are examples of deputies we expect to serve the citizens of Mason County,“ Cole said. "I hear these stories all the time, not from my deputies but from the public. These men didn’t do anything for any glory and didn’t even think it necessary to tell me about what they did. They love serving and ask nothing in return. They are similar to officers in uniform who daily protect and serve their citizens across the country.”
Similar stories from around the nation do pop up from time to time. In July, for example, a small-town Kansas police officer paid for a homeless family’s needed supply of diapers, wipes, and kids’ shoes and clothes after their mother was caught shoplifting the items at a Walmart. In May, a Denver police officer bought dinner for a family of seven after he was called to answer a domestic dispute — which turned out to be a fight over how meals would be paid for that night. And last week, a Portsmouth, N.H., cop bought a mother cake ingredients after she had stolen them from a discount store to bake for her son’s birthday celebration. The officers involved always seem to say the same thing: It was the humane thing to do.
“It’s not only the police here who would and do help families out like this,” Hansen says of Ludington, a town of approximately 8,000 that’s on the shore of Lake Michigan. “It’s the community itself. People here are all willing to step up.”
(Photo: MasonCountyPress.com)
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