A police officer from Ohio went beyond the call of duty when he fed a young child trying to sell his teddy bear so he could buy some food, according to recent reports.
Officer Steve Dunham came across a 7 year old boy in front of a busy drug store trying to sell his teddy bear so he could have some money to buy food, reports WLWT. Officials said that police got a call on August 7 about a young child walking around alone.
When Dunham found the boy, he took him to a close-by Subway to get some food.
“It broke my heart. He told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn’t eaten in several days,” Dunham told WLWT.
Police investigated the situation and found out that the boy had four other siblings; the five of them were living in abject poverty. The house was said to be full of garbage, liquor bottles and cat urine. The parents, Tammy and Michael Bethel, have been charged with 10 counts of child endangerment.
“(Police) treated them like their own kids, and that’s exactly what law enforcement does in situations like this. How would we want someone to treat our kids? Hopefully, these officers’ actions change these kids’ lives and maybe change the lives of the parents to become better parents,” Police Chief Russ Whitman said to WLWT.
According to police, the boys have been removed from their parent’s home and are currently with family members. The parent are not allowed to get in touch with the children.
Dunahm told WLWT that he was just doing his job.
“I came back to check on him and he was hiding. He jumped out to scare me when I came back in the building; he got me real good. (We) would like to go home at the end of the day feeling like (we’ve) done something positive and, you know, had some kind of positive impact,” Dunham said.
Send tips to amber@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.