By Dashiell Coleman
Gaston Gazette
BELMONT, NC — Three-year-old Lucas Reese had barely finished a hard shift at work patrolling his family’s driveway in a miniature police car Aug. 24 when he got a surprise visit. Two Belmont police officers had pulled up to the Reese home near Armstrong Road with a special request to see Lucas.
“They said they came back to officially meet the junior officer,” said Lucas’ mom, Katrina Reese, who would go on to share the encounter in a beaming post on social media.
Cpl. Matt Stroupe and officer Mark Kelske were responding to a routine call in the neighborhood when Stroupe noticed Lucas in his little police car. After the two officers cleared the call, Stroupe suggested stopping by the Reese home to see if they could talk to Lucas. There, they found his dad and told them they wanted Lucas to show them his little car.
“He pulled it out of the garage for us so we could check it out,” Stroupe said. “He turned his lights on so we could see them. We, of course, turned our lights on so he could see our lights, and officer Kelske hit the sirens for just a minute.”
That wasn’t all.
“We gave him a couple of junior police officer stickers and asked him if he’d like to be an official Belmont junior officer,” Stroupe said.
Reese said her son, who also has a small fire truck he drives around, was delighted.
“He just thought it was really cool,” Reese said, describing the officers’ visit as “heartwarming and touching.”
Kelske and Stroupe didn’t realize the kind of impression they left — they said they were just doing their jobs and taking an opportunity to do some community policing.
“Neither Cpl. Stroupe or myself made any mention to anybody else,” Kelske said. “It wasn’t 45 minutes to an hour later we both receive text messages from our supervisor.”
Reese had posted about the encounter to Facebook, saying it was why her family liked their new hometown of Belmont, where they’ve lived since December.
“These officers don’t even know the special impact they left on all of us,” Reese said in her post.
The Belmont Police Department says it has invited the Reese family out to the station.
Both officers said they did not expect recognition.
“Sometimes bad news travels fast, or people are quick to judge something that happens and post it all over social media,” Kelske said. “In this instance, good news traveled just as fast if not faster.”