If you are our Twitter follower you might have seen a Tweet on New Year’s Day that was a photo of Officer Kevin Starrs filling the gas tank of a motorist who ran out of gas. Not surprising –officers see it as their job to help travelers.
Here is the rest of the story as related to me in an email from Sgt. Brandon Hollenbeck:
On 1/1/16 I received a phone call from a citizen who wished to compliment an officer. The caller was a passerby who observed Officer Starrs helping a motorist at Opdyke/M59. The caller saw Officer Starrs putting gas in the motorist’s vehicle and thought it was “remarkable” to see an officer helping someone who was stranded.
Officer Starrs had found a vehicle disabled at Opdyke and M59 occupied by a woman and her children. The woman told Officer Starrs she was from Detroit and she was out of gas and only had a dollar and some change on her. Officer Starrs drove to Shell at Opdyke/M59 and purchased a 2.5 gallon gas can and gasoline for the woman. Officer Starrs returned to the vehicle and got the stranded motorist and her children on their way safely.
Of late, you are hearing more and more of these stories in the news. I’m always glad to see them because I think it tells more about the true nature of policing – helping people. I also know that this sort of thing has been going on for as long as I have been an officer–it was just never talked about or known publicly. Officers saw it part of the job. They meet people in need everyday. Officers still see helping people as their primary job. If you don’t believe me, when you see an officer ask him or her and see what they say.
Thanks to Officer Kevin Starrs for his efforts to help a person who needed just a little bit extra that day. I hope she pays it forward and helps someone else in the future.
Auburn Hills Police Department 