Considering the disturbing interpretation of the left, media has portrayed law enforcement as self-serving men and women who are looking to abuse their power.
This couldn’t be further from the truth!
During a trying time, one mother found solace in the kind acts of a police officer who went above and beyond to create peace.
Café Mom reports:
“A police officer calms an autistic boy who is having a tantrum on the metro and then gets him to the right stop with his exhausted mother after an endless battle to calm him.”
When an autistic child has a tantrum, it is not like calming a child who is not on the spectrum; they are often not soothed by threats, affection, or promises of reward.
Taylor Pomilla was taking her son Andrew from school one afternoon on the metro as they always do when things took a turn for the worst.
Riding a moving train with any child can be a challenge, because the range of mobility is limited, and little legs love to wiggle.
The metro ride home for Pomilla and Andrew can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour each way, which means that she has an ample supply of snacks and her trusty iPad nearby in case the lull of the passing landscape becomes too monotonous.
After some time, Andrew became restless and wanted to run back and forth throughout the passenger car, so Pomilla took out her back of tricks.
But nothing was working! Andrew would not sit safely in his seat.
Pomilla wrote in her Facebook post:
“For those of you that don’t know, when you a child with autism, your child will have some good days and then they will have some bad ones…Today was one of those bad days.”
Pomilla had tried to use the calming tools Andrew has been learning in class, but after a 20-minute battle he went from tantrum to “full-on meltdown/breakdown.”
The frightening scene was described by Andrew’s mom in full detail on her post:
“He started rolling on the floor, screaming, his shoe fell off and he flung it across the train, all while I’m on the floor trying to calm him down (in a dress) with all the candy I had. Then he starts the kicking, hitting, pulling my hair while everyone in rush hour stares on the train, most thinking I was a bad parent who had an out-of-control child, even though really he can’t help it. Sometimes Andrew’s emotions just become too much for him to mentally work through, but when people start staring and Andrew notices, he takes this as opportunity to put on a show.”
Desperate to get her son to calm down and to stop all the staring by the passengers all around her, Pomilla shouts, “I’m sorry he has autism!”
Maybe if we didn’t live in such a judgmental society (especially when it comes to parenting) or if a nearby passenger took to becoming a good Samaritan, an exhausted mother wouldn’t have to resort to yelling her son’s diagnosis to a bunch of strangers.
Unable to soothe Andrew’s tantrum, Pomilla got off the metro prior to her stop in hopes that a change of environment would help; but it got worse!
Rolling around on the ground for 15 minutes with her son who wanted to leave the station, Pomilla lets out cries of frustration.
Who comes to her rescue? A Metro Police Officer.
You may think that the busy officer just wants to get all the commotion to stop, but he offers to help the tired single mom.
Not just to the escalator, or even to their seat, but all the way to their stop to go home!
Immediately getting Andrew’s attention on the metro platform just for being a tall man in uniform, the officer gets him to calmly board the train.
While on board the officer uses a very special set of skills to keep little Andrew excited the whole way home. The post reads:
“He starts talking with Andrew and showing him all his gadgets. He then takes off his Velcro police badge from his vest and asks Andrew, “Can you be a policeman with me and help me do police work on the train?” Of course, Andrew says yes.”
After some “police work”, silly faces on Instagram, and watching some videos online, they were safely at their stop and beginning to recover from all the chaos that occurred.
The kind acts of the police officer were not part of his job description, but he saw a need and came through.
Pomilla says that the officer “honestly restored my faith that there are good people still left in the world”, and that she “can not say thank you enough.”
We must look to the honorable officers in blue now more than ever as liberals try to discredit the years of service to the community thousands of law enforcement personnel have sacrificed on our behalf.
What would Pomilla have done without the calming presence of the officer?
It warms our hearts to hear how a little boy with autism will see the world a little safer, and the metro a little more exciting because of the call to go above and beyond duty.
Please let us know in the comments section what you think of the officer’s actions, and what you would have done if you saw this commotion on the metro platform.