A police officer who helped a lost, hungry 5-year-old get back home when she was found wandering the streets of Jefferson County, Colorado, offered her a healthy snack and her funny response amused him. The video has now gone viral.
Sgt. Jonathan Allen has worked for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for 24 years, spending the first 20 years as a K9 handler. On June 15 at 10:55 a.m., Sgt. Allen and his partner were called on to investigate an unaccompanied child.
“Our agency received a call from a citizen named Robert, who was out mowing his lawn,” Sgt. Allen told The Epoch Times. “He saw this little girl walking by in his neighborhood, and she was lost. She was tired, thirsty, hungry, and barefoot, and said she was looking for her aunt’s house.”
Upon arrival, Sgt. Allen spoke to the child. She showed her sassy nature immediately when he couldn’t understand her last name.
“She was adorable,” he said. “When I couldn’t understand what her last name was, she looks at me and she’s getting frustrated, because ‘you’re not listening with your ears.’ She looked at the radio piece in my ear, then she’s like, ‘It’s probably that!.’ ... We took it out, and then she talked to me.”
The little girl claimed her dad and his girlfriend had been “sleeping since yesterday,” Sgt. Allen said. A neighbor brought the child a coloring book while Sgt. Allen began scouring the police database for reported missing children. Then he offered her a snack.
“I said, ‘Have you had breakfast?’ and she goes, ‘No, but it’s lunchtime.’ I said, ‘Sweetie, you’re right,’” Sgt. Allen said. After checking whether the child had any allergies, Sgt. Allen gave her a mandarin orange from his own lunchbox, claiming she was “really excited.” She ate all of it. However, she was still hungry.
Sgt. Allen reached for another one of his snacks: strawberries with chocolate hummus that was packed by his fiancé.
“She goes, ‘Why don’t you have any donuts?’” Sgt. Allen said. “Just like Santa Claus has reindeer, she thought all cops have donuts. It was just one of those hilarious funny moments. ... I said, ‘No, we don’t always eat donuts. ... We have to stay in good shape to catch bad guys!’”
“That’s one of the awesome things about the body-worn camera,” he told The Epoch Times; “we often forget that we’ve even got it, it’s just there in the background, and it picks up those spontaneous funny things.”
Sgt. Allen and his partner were shortly able to trace the little girl’s address and took her and her 4-year-old sister, who was also outdoors but had not wandered so far, to the care of relatives.
“Total time she was out was probably about an hour and a half,” Sgt. Allen said. “Just a wonderful, adorable kid. I hope for the best for her all through life, and I’m glad that I was able to help her get back home.”
Sgt. Allen said that sometimes kids tend to slip out of their house without their parents being aware. He thus believes that their safety is his sacred duty.
