Corporal C.B. Fleming, 42, arrived at the Mecklenburg Manor apartment complex in South Hill, Virginia, following a report of a gas leak. It was Valentine’s Day. When they confirmed it was a false alarm, Fleming did not get back into the patrol car. He walked over to a group of children who had been watching everything from the sidewalk.
Iesha Roper-Boswell, 28, had just told him that her daughter and niece were afraid of the police. Fleming did not say anything. He lay down on the ground, face down, and began drawing with colored chalk and playing with the girls’ dolls. Roper-Boswell took out her phone and recorded the moment, not because she imagined it would go viral, but because her niece, for the first time, did not burst into tears in front of an officer.
Police Chief Stuart Bowen said that Fleming has been on the force for 15 years, has four children of his own, and has fostered two others. And that this is not the first time he has done something like this. “He’s the kind of person who enjoys connecting with children”, Bowen said. Sometimes the job ends, but humanity continues.