EMMETT TOWNSHIP, Mich., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- When a Michigan public safety officer pulled over a mom for driving her 5-year-old child without a carseat, instead of handing her a traffic ticket, he bought her a brand new car seat for the girl.
Emmett Township Public Safety Officer Ben Hall responded to a call of a child riding unsecured in a car seat Saturday, pulling over young mom Alexis DeLorenzo.
"When I spoke to her she was very forthcoming and knew that the child should be in a booster seat," Hall told WXMI. "She admitted that she was wrong and that she had recently fallen on hard times."
DeLorenzo, who was in the passenger seat while a friend drove, told the officer that her own car had been repossessed -- with her daughter's booster seat inside.
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Hall decided not to give DeLorenzo a ticket, instead directing her to meet him at a nearby Walmart, where he bought her a booster seat for her 5-year-old daughter.
"It was the easiest 50 bucks I ever spent," a modest Hall explained. "It's something that anybody in the same position, in our position would do. I in no way, shape or form expect to be paid back. It is a 'pay it forward' situation completely."
DeLorenzo she was deeply grateful for Hall's actions, and promised to do as he requested and pay it forward when she's left the hard times behind.
"For a police officer that could have just given me a ticket, and gotten me in a whole lot of trouble, he, out of the kindness of his own heart and out of his own pockets, did something for me and my family that I'm never gonna forget," she said. "He did his job and above and beyond that, just to protect a little girl and to help a family that can't help themselves right now."
