A Wisconsin police officer is being praised for helping to celebrate an eight-year-old boy’s birthday after no one picked him up from school.
Officer Darryl Robinson told media on Wednesday that he was called to a local elementary school on Oct. 25 after no one picked up the boy.
According to CBS affiliate, WCGL, the boy’s mother was incarcerated and there was no emergency contact information for the student.
Eventually, Robinson was able to track down the boy’s grandfather. It was also around the time the officer learned it was the boy’s birthday – he had turned eight.
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According to Robinson, a local McDonald’s had given the police department coupons for certain situations, such as the one Robinson found himself in.
After Robinson got the boy a cheeseburger, he also let the boy ride around with him in his police cruiser.
“He had never been in a police car before. He was very excited to ride in one,” said Robinson. “He seemed like he was good spirits… he was excited it [was] his birthday.”
Robinson said he then dropped the boy off with his grandfather.
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The officer also said he actually knew the child from a prior incident.
“I recognized him from a prior contact, probably a couple months before this,” said Robinson. “I do plan on making contact with him in the future and checking on him and see how he’s doing.”
Robinson said next time, he’ll let the child tour the police station and maybe even ride in other emergency vehicles.
Robinson said he was happy to see the positive comments online about the situation.
“I looked at some of the comments. I didn’t know that it was going on social media… my fiance pulled it up, and she actually showed me,” Robinson explained. “I’m not one for the spotlight. But it was good seeing all the comments. There was nothing negative that I read, that’s pretty rare in this profession.”
Coincidentally, it was Robinson’s birthday a day after the boy’s.