Officer Buys Struggling Dad Car Seat for Daughter After Traffic Stop

“This stop went nothing [sic] like I thought it would,” the man wrote on Facebook

LaVonte Dell was recently pulled over in a Michigan town just west of Detroit for having tinted windows, but the traffic stop that followed was anything but normal. 

“This stop went nothin [sic] like I thought it would,” he wrote on Facebook

Dell said the officer took his information and began walking back to his squad car when he noticed Dell’s daughter wasn’t sitting in a car seat.

“The old one was done for so he asked me to get out and speak with him,” Dell wrote. “He asked why didn’t she have one and I told him all I been thru [sic] this year.”

Dell explained that he was struggling to make ends meet due to garnishments and didn’t like asking others for money.

That’s when the officer told Dell to follow him to Walmart where he would ultimately purchase the young girl a new car seat.

“If you would have seen us in Walmart u [sic] would have thought we were best friends,” Dell wrote. 

Dell posted the story to Facebook shortly after in an effort to thank the officer that helped him. He said he was so in shock from the good deed, he forgot to ask the officer’s name.

“I told him I never met a officer like u [sic],” Dell wrote. “He said I’m just doing my job what good would giving u [sic] a ticket do besides putting u [sic] further in the hole making it harder on you to come up.”

The City of Westland confirmed the news on Facebook. 

“As many of you may have heard, we had an incident occur on Monday in which an officer conducted a traffic stop on a car for having tinted windows,” administrators wrote on the Westland Police Community Partnership Facebook page. “While speaking with the driver, the officer noticed that there was a child inside who was not in a car seat. The officer took it upon himself to take the driver to Walmart and purchase a car seat for the child. The officer paid for this car seat out of his own pocket.” 

After some digging, the officer was identified as Joshua Scaglione. 

“It was difficult to identify the officer responsible as he had not told anyone about what had happened,” the post read. “It is clear that his sole purpose was to assist the driver, not to receive recognition.” 

The department also thanked Dell for sharing his story. 

“In a world filled with negative stories, the fact that you shared yours has had an unbelievably positive impact on all of us. Thank you,” the post read.

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