Police officer finds distressed child who ran away from home — his dad’s perspective in a powerful speech saved the child

Little kids have various ways to cope with stressful situations. While facing emotional imbalance, they often end up doing something against their better judgment. Thankfully, there are people like CSPD officer Craig Johnson around who know exactly how to deal with distressed kids after they have run away from their homes. According to KKTV, Johnson who serves at the Colorado Springs police department found a 9-year-old child who had run away from home after someone reported about the kid.

“They were having thoughts of self-harm, and there was some kind of disturbance at home that led up to them making that decision to run away,” Johnson told the outlet. Johnson being a father of 5 kids decided to bond with the young child and sat down on the pavement with them. He also let the child know that they were not alone or in any kind of trouble. “I was just trying to think how I would want a police officer or any person whose job potentially is to protect my kids, how I would want them to behave with my kids and interact with my kids. If this was my kid and this was a police officer, how I would want them to treat my kid," Johnson mentioned.

The body cam footage from Johnson recorded their whole interaction. Johnson started off the conversation by asking the kid if they were okay and then introduced himself. At first, the child didn't want to talk and Johnson felt they might run away again but the kid slowly started to open up. Over the next 45 minutes, Johnson tried to explain to the child that he was there to help them anytime they needed. The kid slowly started talking more with Johnson and showed him all the stuff that they packed with them before running away from home. “I like you. You seem like a nice kid," Johnson let the kid know before the kid asked if they could go play in the playground. Johnson made them make a "pinkie promise" that they wouldn't run away if they went to the playground and the child kept their promise.

The 9-year-old started swinging on the monkey bars. Johnson praised them for doing the feat and told them how difficult it actually was. The child also went on the swings and slides as they kept chatting. At that moment, Johnson's peers did not intervene as he was handling the situation pretty well. “Just imagine you’re a young child in crisis, and you have multiple armed officers standing around you, you’re worried about being in trouble, and you’re overwhelmed," he explained. The officer added, "Once I developed a rapport with that child, my officers did a good job of recognizing that and not coming over and disrupting that rapport." On the other hand, his fellow officers were busy contacting the child's parents, arranging for necessary medical services and preparing to take the kid to a place where they could receive proper mental health services. 

The friendly approach and interaction with Johnson made the child agree to go with him. “I’m proud of you that you’re acknowledging how you feel and you need help. This is how we get the help," he told the child in the footage. Public Relations Manager for the Colorado Springs Police Department Ira Cronin praised Johnson. "I think back to when I was that age, and I was so mad enough my parents that I thought, ‘I’m going to run away.’ That’s such an emotionally charged situation," said Cronin and added, "But for Officer Johnson to recognize the need and the approach that had to be taken."

Cronin mentioned that Johnson "was in the right place at the right time. He may not have had a sports ball, or he may not have had a teddy bear to bridge that gap, but he was able to sit down, use his skills as a person, and build that trust, and again, keep that situation under control, keep that young person in crisis from escalating." He added that Johnson was "able to keep them (the child) calm, and that’s really a skill our officers have." As for Johnson, he admitted that "these are the calls you walk away from with a smile." He added, "I got into this profession, as did all of us, to help people, and we feel like so many days there are negative endings to what we do in police work, and when you can walk away really feeling like you helped someone, that’s the best feeling.”