Police officers can be pretty intimidating, especially to kids.
Sure, just about every child has been taught how police officers are there to help protect you and arrest criminals, but something about the whole “arrests criminals” bit tends to stick around in our minds as a kid.
Who as a child hadn’t found themselves feeling nervous when a police officer is around on the case, even if they had been completely innocent their whole lives?
Thankfully, with the positive experience these kids had with South Hill Police Corporal C.B. Fleming, that may never be the case for them!
On Valentine’s Day, the local volunteer fire department had suddenly received a call about a suspected gas leak.
To save resources (and everyone’s time), normal protocol dictated that the police department sends over a dispatch to check whether it is a real emergency or not.
If yes, then only do they send for the firefighters.
This was why Fleming happened to be there at the time – he was just checking out to confirm whether the suspected gas leak report at Mecklenburg Manor apartment complex was real or not.
Luckily for everyone involved, the report turned out to be a false alarm, so there was no need to panic.
With the crisis averted, Fleming decided to switch gears and work on something a lot more enjoyable – playing with the local kids.
A police officer who has been with the force for 15 years and counting, Fleming had a reputation for being someone who adored children and was just full of love.
And it certainly was no act – this white man got down onto his stomach to play with the kids on the sidewalk.
And it happened to be that a video of him in this exact position (he was playing dolls with a pair of girls) that went viral.
Iesha Roper-Boswell, a 28-year-old mother, was the one responsible for recording the heartwarming moment.
She was just astonished at how much Fleming threw himself into playing and interacting with children, and how quickly he bonded with all of them.
She later explained to news outlets how she had mentioned to Fleming that these children were terrified of police officers.
It bears mentioning that these kids were all black, and Fleming is a white police officer.
In this day and age where racism-fueled police brutality has made the black community and their children fearful and suspicious of the police force, the fear these young children have is, unfortunately, understandable.
So it came as a massive relief that not only did Fleming acknowledge this, he immediately set out to be a positive influence on the children, and a shining example for future police-citizen interactions.
Watching Fleming, as a police officer, going down onto the same level as the children to interact with them speaks volumes about just how much he cares about them.
His love and enthusiasm for children quickly attracted the attention of all the kids in the neighborhood, who were soon eager to play with this wonderful police officer!
