In the state of Wisconsin, children must be in a car seat until they reach either the age of 4 or 40 pounds, and in a booster seat until they reach age 8, more than 80 pounds in weight, or more than 4 feet, 9 inches. There are similar laws throughout the country.
But when Officer Kevin Zimmerman pulled over Andrella Jackson for a registration problem, he noticed that none of her three children in the back were in the required car seats.
Zimmerman learned that Jackson’s vehicle had recently been purchased at auction. She hadn’t had time to register it yet, and money was tight. Although the Milwaukee cop could have written Jackson a citation for the violation, he decided to go a different route. He let Jackson go with a warning, but not before inquiring about her children’s weights. Later, he showed up at her home with car seats for both of her smaller children.
“She was like, ‘Thank you!’ and her little kids came out,” Zimmerman told Fox 6 Now. “Unpacked them, installed them in her car, showed her the proper way to install them.”
What a kind gesture!
As a parent himself, Zimmerman says he was motivated to ensure the children’s safety. For her part, Jackson was incredibly grateful.
“He’s awesome,” she told WKYT. “I really love him. I really appreciate everything he did for us.”
On Oct. 14, the Milwaukee Police Department took to Facebook to praise Zimmerman for his good deed:
“Andrella Jackson was recently pulled over by MPD District 5 Officer Zimmerman, and received much more than a traffic citation,” they write in the post. “The officer observed that the children in the car were not properly restrained and took it upon himself to purchase two car seats for her. Thank you Officer Zimmerman for going the extra mile and going above and beyond your call of duty.”
We love this sweet story!
Meanwhile, for everyone else who struggles to afford car seats, know that there are several resources for obtaining free or low-cost car seats.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
