A video showing an Edmonton police officer dodging children armed with Nerf guns, Matrix-style, is making waves online.
On Thursday, Const. Brendan Fonteyne and his partner Const. Cameron Jones were doing a patrol in the area of 34 Street in the city’s southeast division when they came across some kids.
“My partner was lagging behind me. He was talking to some other people and I saw these kids playing with … I thought they were water guns at first,” said Fonteyne, who has been with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) for two years.
“They’re really good kids. I said, ‘It’s open season. If you guys can just light up my partner, that would be awesome. I’m sure he would love it, too.’”
Jones had no idea what was coming.
“As I walked by, there was a bunch of children on a truck holding Nerf guns. I said ‘Hi’ to them thinking none the wiser,” he said.
“I heard ‘Get him’ and they jumped off. What you saw was pretty much my reaction.”
Fonteyne took out his cellphone to capture the action, only to discover the slow-mo setting was on, which he said added a Matrix style to the encounter.
“He has kids. I think he’s always expecting it. He was a good sport,” Fonteyne said of his partner.
“I tried to dodge the darts as good as possible but… not so nimble,” Jones laughed.
Fonteyne then posted the video to his Twitter account. He said he uses social media to show the human side of policing and to show people that police officers are more than just their uniform.
He also said that community policing, which he and Jones were doing at the time of the video, is critical to that.
Jones, who has been with EPS for almost 10 years, said the video not only gave him a chuckle, he hopes that it shows police officers are approachable.
“We like to have fun. Community engagement is something we don’t see every day. It’s something that needs to be showcased with what we do. We are human.”
As for the kids’ reactions?
“They couldn’t believe it. They were excited. They were all pretty happy,” Fonteyne said.
Jones said there were huge smiles on the children’s faces.
“Showing from that young, that they can approach us and we’re not bad guys. We like to have fun, too.”
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