By Karen Rosen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Wearing a uniform that was just his size, complete with Stetson hat, handcuffs, flashlight and sleeve patches as big as his biceps, Darrien Salter went right to work Thursday.
The 7-year-old from Lawrenceville spent the day as Officer Salter, Badge No. 1273. Just call him “the short arm of the law.”
Darrien has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder of the nervous system, and had made a wish to be a policeman.
Partnering with Lt. William Hegwood, he attended a Smyrna Police Department shift meeting and patrolled the neighborhood in a black-and-white. Undercover cops playing bad guys then gave Darrien practice in the field.
First, he ticketed a driver who ran a stop sign, then handcuffed and arrested a man trying to break into a building with a crowbar.
Darrien also turned on the blue lights in the police car and talked on the radio. He finished his shift by writing a report, typing with one finger words such as T-H-U-G to describe the man he arrested.
“He writes reports better than most of us,” Hegwood joked.
Darrien’s adventures unfolded like an episode of “Cops,” his favorite television show, as cameras recorded his every move.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama made the day possible.
“Did you arrest a bad guy?” his brother Devin, 10, asked when he returned to the station.
Darrien nodded.
“He doesn’t talk much, he’s very shy,” said his mom, Kawanna, “but he shows a lot of good expressions on his face.”
Darrien’s grandfather was chief of police in Evergreen, Ala. He recently decided he wanted to become a police officer, too.
“He really wants to take all the bad people off the street,” his mother said.
“All of them.”
His social worker at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta originally contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Sara Waddell, a volunteer who helps coordinate wishes, had a son who could help: Ron Waddell, a detective with Smyrna police.
Darrien’s wish was the 4,000th granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama since it started in 1995.
A uniform shop donated the uniform. Accessories like the handcuffs, Waddell said, “just mysteriously appeared on my desk from time to time to make sure that he had everything he was supposed to have.”
Darrien’s disease is life-threatening but not terminal. He has seizures, including one last Saturday. He stopped breathing and had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital.
His mother said he has three tumors on the brain, two on the right optic nerve, and 60 to 70 spots on his body that raise up to be tumors.
“So, we’ve got a battle ahead of us,” she said.
For now, Darrien was just having fun.
“When you put on the uniform, you become Officer Salter,” Officer Milton Lane told him.
“When you take it off, you’re Darrien again.”
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution