Officers surprise bullied boy with birthday party of his dreams

Braden Garnett's world is often a lonely one. Diagnosed early in life with Asperger's, dyslexia and a condition that causes the misalignment of his eyes, Braden is often the target of school and playground bullies.

"I struggle because people are calling me names. I'm bullied constantly," said Braden, a 5th grader from Pekin, Illinois. "Telling me I'm a cross-eyed freak, and I'm not good at kickball."
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More than a dozen police officers, firefighters, the Police Chief and even Pekin Mayor John McCabe showed up at the paintball place, ready to square off. Some of them brought their kids. They split into two teams, with Braden, and battled it out.

The officers also pooled their money to bring presents, including a police station Lego set. The party even featured its own team mascot -- the K9 officer's dog.

www.cnn.com...

Very nice gesture by the department. I'm sure many short comings about this will be brought up, never the less, it was positive for a young guy.

I imagine the community will also see something positive in this action. Thanks to the Pekin Police Department...

a reply to: roadgravel

What a beautiful thing to do. I really hope they stay in contact with him, even if is just to let him visit once in a while. That will do so much. For all of them.


***I'm sorry you had to put the note in there about shortcomings, but my goodness, I can see it happening today. It's like most on here got bit by the crabby bug today.

Forget kickball. Just tell the kid to study his coding and someday he could be a cross-eyed freak billionaire. Great thing about this life is that you live long enough, and work hard enough, you can eventually crush your childhood enemies beneath your $1,500.00 Gucci loafers. The whole town of Hollywood is based on that premise.

There's a lot to love about this story. I'm glad he got a good birthday party, and it's good to see a positive story about police officers. Those folks have a difficult job. I don't know how they do it sometimes. I'd have lost my temper a dozen times on my first day, I tell ya. I also love that CNN, known to a lot of people as anti conservative and anti police and blah blah blah, has a "Beyond the Call of Duty" email address where you can share your stories of officers going, well, beyond the call of duty.

Do you know an officer who has gone above and beyond what the job requires? E-mail us at [email protected]

And now, back to my typical, usual cynical self: I wonder if they'll print any more stories of cops doing good things.

Ya know if the Cops had murdered that kid at the party OR AT THE VERY LEAST BEATEN HIM, then this story would have made Headlines. As it is though, some Cops do something beautiful out of the kindness of there hearts, Snooze fest!! Boring!! Where is the Scandal? Where's the Genital Grabbing or rape??? This story does not support the Globalist Agenda, Moving on. For those that don't get it, SARCASM.

Cool, I like hearing the positive "serve and protect" stories. Cops are people too and in today's climate, I'd like to see programs instilled that involve the police and public, as regular events or opportunities to commune. It is sad that maintaining detachment is part of policy these days. I think we could use some old fashion 'get to know each other' stuff.

a reply to: roadgravel

Ah yes, let the warm, snuggly, comforting blanket of wool-over-the-eyes engulf us as we hear of an isolated incident, obviously deliberately fabricated public relations bs to reassure the general public about the good and honourable intentions of the powers that be and their minions in all their glorious actions and wisdom, where the police even stand up for a bullied child. Yes people, these people really do have our best interests at heart, deserve a pay-rise, less working hours per week and larger and more effective weapons!

Next up, Rodney King with the weather….

/sarcasm off

There are officers who truly care about people and those who are corrupt. Reasonable people deep down inside know this.

I clicked this thread because I needed to hear a positive story today... surprised to see this all happened about 15 mins from me.
Good for the PPD, nice to hear something other than meth busts coming out of there for once.