When Andrella Jackson was pulled over by a police officer in Milwaukee, she knew she was bound to get a ticket for not having her car registered and for having her kids unbelted inside.
Luckily, she was wrong.
The officer who stopped her was Kevin Zimmermann, a father of three himself.
Zimmermann understood that the mother was doing her best and needed help, not another ticket to pay on top of what she already couldn’t afford.
As Zimmermann later told journalists, he has been taught by his parents and the Academy to try to do the right thing.
And it seems that in this case, ticketing the young mother didn’t feel right.
When Jackson pulled over, she explained to the officer why her car was not registered.
She explained that she had just got it during an auction and hadn’t had the chance to register it yet.
But that wasn’t the main problem.
The other – and more important – issue was that she didn’t have car seats nor were her kids belted.
In fact, they were jumping around waving at the officer the whole time.
“There was three kids in the back, two of them were very young,” Officer Kevin Zimmermann told journalists. “Didn’t notice any car seats or any restraints. Clearly, they weren’t wearing seat belts because they’re jumping around back there waving at me.”
This was not only illegal, but even worse, it was dangerous for the young children.
As Zimmermann said, in his career, he has seen kids getting hurt or even die in car accidents because their car seats were not properly installed or missing.
“I’ve seen kids get hurt. I’ve seen kids get killed. Something as simple as a car seat properly installed could have helped them out and saved their life,” the officer explained.
So, thinking of the kids that could have been saved, as well as his own children, Zimmermann decided to surprise the young mother instead of writing her a ticket.
“I’m a father and I knew if something were to happen to them — I’d be devastated if it happened to my kids,” Zimmermann said.
He asked about the weight of each child and headed to the nearest Walmart.
When he came back, he was not alone.
He was carrying two brand new car seats for the two younger children. Not only that, but he also installed them in the car himself, while he also showed Jackson how to do it in the future.
The family was thrilled with the officer’s surprise.
As Jackson had explained to the officer, she had been struggling to make ends meet and with the cold season coming up she had made buying winter clothes for the kids a top priority instead of buying car seats for them.
“With bills coming up and winter coming up,” Jackson told WITI, “I got to get coats and boots and shoes and stuff, so it was kind of hard for me.”
Many of us will never know what it’s like to have to make that kind of choice.
Zimmermann hopes that his deed will help parents realize that their kids’ safety on the road should be a top priority.
If you know someone who is struggling, there are resources in all 50 US states that help parents get car seats for their kids when times are tough. Just click here.
Meanwhile, we’re giving props to this kind officer who went above and beyond to protect and serve.
Watch this officer in action in the video below!
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