Ohio police officers Drew Olinger and Joe Sanchez are used to getting calls about cars and other items being stolen. They file a report and hope for the best.
But on Jan. 23, Olinger got a pretty unique call that compelled him to do more.
Jae Ingram was hosting a birthday party for her 4-year-old Syris around 6:00 p.m. that day at a trampoline park in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton. But Ingram accidentally left her car door unlocked and someone went into her car and stole her son’s birthday gifts.
“It was kind of one of those things where yeah, you can take a report but the kid’s birthday is obviously not going as well as she had planned,” Olinger said.
He called Sanchez and the two went to a local Walgreens to buy some replacement gifts for the kiddo. They got him all kinds of Paw Patrol toys and cars, he said.
The boy’s mom shared Ring footage of the kind act on Facebook that night. In the short but sweet clip, an excited Syris thanks the officers enthusiastically.
Ingram said in her post that she felt like the worst mom ever when her son’s gifts were stolen. She never leaves her car doors unlocked but did so by mistake that night. The officers’ kind act made her son’s day though, she told USA TODAY. She said other community members also replaced the specific toys stolen from Syris that day.
“I just can’t thank them enough,” the boy’s mother told USA TODAY.
Mom called Walmart to warn them about stolen toys
Ingram said she took Syris to Walmart to get a few toys for his birthday that day. After that, they went to an indoor trampoline park for no more than 30 minutes.
The family then went to grab dinner at Taco Bell and headed home. That’s when Syris noticed one of his toys, a Chase car from “Paw Patrol,” was missing.
“One of the toys was a big Sonic remote control car,” said his mother. “A huge box, so there’s no way I’m missing this in my car. It’s gone.”
They drove back to the trampoline park to ask if they have cameras pointing at the vehicles in the parking lot but were told they only have cameras near the entrance.
She reported the gifts stolen and then headed home. That’s when the officers showed up.
She also called Walmart to let them know her toys were stolen and someone may be trying to return them for cash.
Officers grew up in community and wanted to help victimized child
Olinger and Sanchez both grew up in the Ohio community where they now serve as police officers. Doing something kind for the 4 year old whose birthday was ruined was a no-brainer.
“I felt sad but I was excited to actually be able to have an opportunity to do something for this young man,” Olinger said. “We just pretty much went over to the nearest Walgreens I could find and grabbed all the Paw Patrol things I could find.”
They then headed to his house to deliver the gifts. It all happened within 30 minutes. He said the excitement the boy showed when he saw the presents was touching.
He said so often, police officers are told not to relate work experiences to his own family. In this case, he thought of his daughter and empathy led him to do something other than file a report.
“I like to make her birthdays perfect,” Olinger said, adding that he thought about how his birthday “fell short of that and what we could do to make it better.”
Sanchez, who helped pick out gifts and delivered them to the boy, said he was ecstatic to be part of it.
“He just had all his birthday presents stolen and then we showed up,” he said. “His mood went from 0 to 100.”
The duo said it’s an honor to be part of their local police force, patrolling the very streets their own families travel day and night.
“These are the types of things that a lot of our officers do very commonly and they don’t always get the attention that this necessarily got,” Olinger said.
Birthday boy is his mother’s ‘Sour Patch Kid’
Ingram said the birthday boy, Syris, is part of an active and growing family.
She has him, 5-year-old Steven, a baby boy she lost in May and she is currently expecting another baby boy, due on March 18.
Syris is super outgoing and polite but “definitely my Sour Patch Kid,” she told USA TODAY.
“He gives me a run for my money but he also has great manners and he can light up a room,” she said.
He was thrilled to receive the gifts from the officers. She knew she had to post the video of the officers delivering the gifts because it’s such a rare act.
“Some officers would just be like ‘We’re so sorry that happened to you … There’s nothing we can do.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ohio cops hastily replace 4-year-old’s stolen birthday presents
