A police officer in Lee County, Florida, made headlines for tenderly helping a lost and mostly non-verbal boy find his way back home.
Deputy Humberto Labaut found a teenager named Mike wandering along State Road 82, and soon realized that the boy was unable to describe where he had come from, according to a July 22 report from WFTX-TV.
The boy was a 13-year-old identified only as Mike.
Labaut’s body camera showed him using a pen and paper to try communicating with the teenager, who was seen in the footage wearing glasses and a tanktop.
As they started the search for Mike’s mother, Labaut gently asked if Mike would like to take his hand.
According to WFTX, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Myers Police worked for several hours to locate Mike’s family.
Other moments captured by the body camera included Mike grinning and making a rock-and-roll hand gesture, apparently in response to Labaut.
As the search for his family continued, Mike’s mother called into the police station to report her son missing.
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The body camera footage showed the moment Mike and his mother were finally reunited.
The boy ran out of the back of a police car and embraced his relieved mother.
As it turns out, Mike had wandered some two miles away from home.
WFTX added that United Way has a program called Reunite, which helps caregivers who look after children and vulnerable adults who are prone to wander away.
It provides access to scent kits, bloodhounds, police aviation units, and other resources to expedite searches for missing persons, all for free.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN-sAj_3j88
Labaut had gone above and beyond by not only doing his job and working to find Mike’s family, but by making the boy feel loved throughout the process.
No one asked or required Labaut to show such kindness and creativity while doing his job. But he did so anyway.
This is the prevailing attitude for the vast majority of law enforcement officers in our nation.
Most police officers sign up to protect innocent people and to be of service to their communities.
And so often, they are cast as villains by the media and by the leftist power brokers.
But these tender interactions between Mike and his new friend on the police force are potent reminders of how much we should be thankful for those who wear the badge.
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