Officer sees what’s in this man's back seat, rips up the ticket and says “follow me”
By Mike-Ross
LaVonte Dell was driving through Westland, Michigan when he was stopped by a police officer. Dell assumed the officer was concerned about his tinted windows and braced himself for the worst. Officer Joshua Scaglione was about to write a ticket when he noticed Dell’s 3-year-old daughter riding without a car seat. “When he asked me to step out of the car, I was expecting the worst,” Dell told Detroit ABC News affiliate WXYZ 7. Dell couldn’t believe what the officer did next.
Officer Scaglione started asking questions. “I asked him why is she back there without a car seat. It’s not safe. He teared up a little bit and told me he was going through some tough times,” Officer Scaglione told reporters. “I related to the fact that I’ve been in that situation before. I realized this was the perfect opportunity to help him.”
The kind-hearted officer decided Dell needed a second chance instead of a ticket and asked the struggling father to follow him to Wal-Mart. With money from his own pocket, Officer Scaglione bought Dell a new carseat. “You would have thought we were best friends. No awkward silence. I learned about him. He learned about me,” Dell said about their encounter.
At the time, Dell was so dumbstruck by the officer’s generosity that he never learned Officer Scaglione’s name. Dell made a post on Facebook asking if anyone could help him identify Officer Scaglione. “I feel like he should get the recognition. Everyone should know what he did,” says Dell.
He reached out to the Westland Police Community Partnership’s Facebook page, but no one knew what Dell was talking about. “It was difficult to identify the officer responsible as he had not told anyone about what had happened,” the partnership’s post explained. “It is clear that his sole purpose was to assist the driver, not to receive recognition.”
The post went viral and Scaglione’s identity was revealed. When asked why he helped Dell, Scaglione said “He seems like blue collar hard working guy who was doing the best he could for his family.”
After Scaglione’s identity was revealed the Westland Police Community Partnership made a post on Facebook,
As many of you may have heard, we had an incident occur on Monday in which an officer conducted a traffic stop on a car for having tinted windows. While speaking with the driver, the officer noticed that there was a child inside who was not in a car seat. The officer took it upon himself to take the driver to Walmart and purchase a car seat for the child. The officer paid for this car seat out of his own pocket.
The driver soon after identified himself through Facebook, telling the story of what had happened, and seeking to identify and thank the officer that had done this for him. It was difficult to identify the officer responsible as he had not told anyone about what had happened. It is clear that his sole purpose was to assist the driver, not to receive recognition.
The Westland Police Department would like to express how proud we are of the officer responsible, Officer Joshua Scaglione.
Featured image and facebook image credited to WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 via YouTube
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