In late October, Officer Justin Gower pulled a man over for a malfunctioning light and an expired registration. He was troubled when he approached the car and found three young girls – ages 1, 3, and 4 — in the back without car seats. “I was upset because it’s extremely dangerous,” Gower told KXAN-TV. “I have kids and I know how fragile they are, especially how young these kids were.”
According to the police department, once Gower knew the man’s name he remembered hearing his story from another officer. So he called in Officer Cale Hawkins, who had talked with the man a few weeks prior. “They were living in a hotel and he said all of his money was going to that at this time,” said Hawkins.
In that moment, Gower and Hawkins decided to help the struggling family by buying car seats for the girls instead of issuing their father multiple tickets.
“Giving him three tickets, wasn’t going to do any good,” Gower told a local news station, KVUE. “Those kids were still going to have to be driven somewhere, somehow with no car seats.”
Hawkins added, “We just kind of stepped off to the side and said we need to do the right thing and get these people some car seats.” So, as Gower spoke with the driver, Hawkins drove to Wal-Mart and purchased three car seats totaling around $145. The police department said that other officers working that day also chipped in.
After presenting the seats to the family, the father, who remains unnamed, was truly grateful. “It was nothing short of a miracle,” he said. “The officers have been a blessing.”
The Cedar Park Police Department shared the news later that week on Facebook and gave a shout out to officers around the nation:
“We also want to mention that this behavior is reflective of not only Cedar Park Police Officers, but police officers throughout our country who do things like this each day. We are honored to wear a badge and even more so to serve this community.”
Source: Today & KVUE