Instead of Tickets, Cops Give Dad a Much-Needed Gift

When police officer Justin Gower pulled a truck over Saturday in Cedar Park, Texas, for a faulty light, he wasn't prepared for what he found: three girls, ages 1, 3, and 4, in the back, none in car seats, KVUE reports. "I was upset because it's extremely dangerous," he tells KXAN. "I have kids and I know how fragile they are, especially how young these kids were." His colleague, Cale Hawkins, had stopped this same dad before earlier in the month and knew the dad was having financial troubles. "To issue them three citations for each child would just devastate them," Gower says.

So they hatched a different plan: They both came up with some cash, and Gower talked to the dad while Hawkins snuck off to Walmart, where he bought three pink car seats for the three girls for about $145, thanks to a discount the manager gave him, per KVUE. They even helped put the car seats in for the dad, who tells the station, "It was nothing short of a miracle. It was something that was really needed. The officers have been a blessing." An added bonus: When other Cedar Park officers heard about their act of kindness, they pitched in as well. (Meanwhile, an off-duty firefighter in Tennessee rushed into a burning home to save a dog.)