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California cop consoles boy with special needs
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Published October 26, 2016
(Fox 5 Atlanta/Facebook)
A California police officer recently went beyond his call of duty when he helped console a boy with special needs who was having a temper tantrum.
Corinne Oestreich wrote on Facebook that the cop, referred only to as Officer Ben, distracted her son outside a grocery store by letting him see inside his patrol car and demonstrating how to look for fingerprints, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Hunter, who has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette syndrome and severe anxiety, had been upset that his grandmother had just ended a visit with the family and returned to Minnesota.
“He kicked and screamed through the entire store,” Oestreich shared on Facebook. “I held him, I consoled him. I firmly and kindly stayed calm, yet inside I was terrified of the looks from other shoppers, or rather from their averted eyes as my son threw himself on the floor of [Lucky’s]."
Oestreich wrote that Hunter was so upset, she had trouble getting him safely to the car until Officer Ben intervened.
“Officer Ben was understanding, wanted to make sure that I knew he was not in any haste to go anywhere and that Hunter and I were his focus,” she wrote on Facebook. “He kept a distance from Hunter and I could tell he was gauging how much Hunter would allow him to be near him.
“He really helped my son today,” she added, “and gave this mama some reinforcements when I thought my own anxiety was near flooding with tears.”
https://www.foxnews.com/health/california-cop-consoles-boy-with-special-needs