Heartwarming video of police officer playing basketball with kids goes viral
A police officer in Wheeling, West Virginia stopped patrolling the neighborhood for a very important meeting this week. It was a meeting with kids over a game of pickup basketball.
Neighbor Leiandra Bledsoe was taking a walk and came upon the scene at a local playground. She decided to film Officer Ryan Moore of the Wheeling Police Department on his "break" -- and the video has gone viral.
The police officer shied away from taking too much credit, saying he does things like this because he or other police officers might be the only father figure in a child's life. Moore also said his fellow officers often do the same.
"So if we can come in and spend some time with them and show them, 'Hey, this guy, I see him, he plays basketball with me, he does X, Y and Z with me, you know, they're good people.' Maybe when they're getting bullied or they're having some issues in their neighborhood, they'll come talk to us so we can solve those problems before they lead to bigger problems," Moore told CBS affiliate WTRF.
Moore's pickup basketball games help put the community in "community policing."