Officer Goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty After Seeing Fallen Flag in Front Yard
A police officer in Washington state has become a viral hero after he picked up a fallen flag in someone’s front yard — and the fact that he did it on the Fourth of July makes it all the more perfect.
Officer Dave Negron was recorded by local resident Ben Rieman’s CCTV camera on Independence Day taking action to make sure the flag wasn’t dishonored, KOMO reports.
The flag had fallen down in the wind at the home in Marysville, and any good American knows Old Glory should not touch the ground.
So, as the video shows, Negron walked up to the flag and tried to make sure that it was back in proper form:
After establishing that the flag could not be righted, Negron took the banner down and rolled it up with care. Then, he propped it up on the side of the house.
After all of that, he walked away, likely thinking that would be the end of it. Except, he was caught on CCTV, and Rieman wanted to share the act with the rest of the world.
“I would like to THANK greatly to an Officer of the Marysville Police department!!!!” Rieman wrote in a post on the Snohomish County Crime and Community Facebook group.
“It just so happens I was out and about enjoying my 4th of July, when my American Flag had somehow fell to the ground.”
“I wish I could thank him personally,” Rieman added.
“That’s a real American to me!”
Well, the officer has gotten plenty of thanks. By Sunday afternoon, the video had already been viewed over 1.5 million times at ABC News’ Facebook page, and countless other times at other sites that picked it up.
Sadly, at least at ABC’s page, the comments section actually turned into a hate-fest against police officers and the American flag, because this is 2018 and of course it did.
Nevertheless, there were still more patriots who were willing to stick up for what Negron did.
“Thanks, officer,” a user identified as Robert Ulisse wrote.
“Despite the vitriol spat by many in the comments here, you have the gratitude and respect of those to whom the flag means something special.”
Indeed, there are many more of us than there are of them, and Officer Negron is proof. He may have only been with the department for a year, but we bet he’ll go far — and we’ll all have a special place in our hearts for him and his respect for our star-spangled banner. He’s proof that not all heroes wear capes.
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