When Katherine Cooke spotted a police cruiser parked outside the window of her Vernon home on Tuesday, near where three of her sons were playing, she looked to make sure everything was OK.
It was.
Her 8-, 10-, and 11-year-old sons were not in any trouble. Instead, they were with a Vernon police officer who happened to take a few moments to toss a football around with them.
It was also a moment she wanted to preserve by taking a photo and posting it on Facebook.
Cooke said her family moved from Vermont around a year ago, so they have not been in Connecticut long, and she did not know which police officer made her sons’ afternoon, but she’s glad he did.
“They were so excited. They were happy. They loved it,” Cooke said.
Lieutenant William Meier, of the Vernon Police Department, solved the mystery. The officer is Aaron Grechko and he never realized anyone took a photo capturing the moment until another Vernon police officer happened to spot it.
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Grechko was doing what Vernon police officers do on a daily basis -- getting out of his cruiser and interacting with the community, Meier said.
This time, it happened to be preserved in a photo and shared, over and over again.
As a parent, Cooke said she is trying to ensure that her children are not afraid of police. She wants her boys to trust police officers and feel comfortable going to them if they ever need help.
She also wanted to prove that positive news can be spread, not just negative news.
“I want people to share positive stuff,” she said.
Her test seems to be working. She posted the story on NBC Connecticut’s Facebook page and it’s been “liked” more than 1,000 times and shared almost 900 times.
