Police surprise 4-year-old with play day

MADISON — For most boys his age, it is a toss-up between growing up to be a police officer or a fireman, but for 4-year-old Easton Hardin, the choice is now clear —no disrespect to firefighters. But he is a police officer all the way, a motorcycle officer if possible, thanks to a play date with Madison Police earlier this month.

Easton, the son of Kim and Wesley Hardin, will be 5 years old in October and he recently started attending the Madison Premier Preschool. 

Easton definitely wants to be a police officer when he grows up.

“They are my favorite because they get the bad guys and they have dogs who can sniff out the bad guys,” Easton said during a visit to the Madison Police Station last Friday.

Kim Hardin said her son has been fixated on police officers for some time but his fandom reached a peak when MPD officers were handing out soccer balls in a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods to promote youth sports. 

She sent them a message saying her son, who attended the Little School Learning Center at the time, would love a ball.

“On Aug. 2, Little School Learning Center called to let me know some officers dropped off a ball for Easton,” she said. “My sister’s children go to LSLC so the ball was sent home to us through them. Once we received the ball I took a picture of Easton with it and posted it to Facebook to say thank you to those officers. It made Easton’s day knowing that ball came from police officers.”

A few days passed and she received a message on Facebook from Capt. Stephen Patrick with Madison Police Department to set up a time that he could get some officers to come by and meet Easton.

On Aug. 10, around 11 a.m., Easton got a visit from motorcycle patrol officers John Cannon and William Davis in his front yard.

“Easton has an absolute love for motorcycles and police officers so when the two are combined he is mesmerized,” his mother said.

They set up a time on that Aug. 10 morning and she made sure they were playing outside around then.

“I took Easton outside at the front of our house to play close to that time and when he heard the sounds of the motorcycle engines he looked up and to his surprise saw it was two motorcycle officers heading in his direction,” she said. “He was in such awe that he was almost speechless.”

They were able to meet with Easton for about 20 or 30 minutes. They gave him a tour of their motorcycles and allowed him to play with the siren, lights and horn. It wasn’t long before Easton got his smaller motorcycle out of the garage and showed it to the officers.

“He really loved it we got to show him our setup and got him to show us his and he said he wanted to be a police officer when he grows up,” Davis said.

Easton even declined trading motorcycles saying he liked how his fit better, at least for the moment.

His mother said the officers were “amazing” with her son. She was impressed by the time and care they spent with him and noted that they were “in no rush” while talking to him.

“It is just an aspect of community policing,” she said. “Letting the kids see us and know that we are there when they need us and not to be fearful.”

Easton enjoyed himself so much that she scheduled a tour of the police station last Friday where he got to meet more officers, staff and the K9 unit as well as see a whole range of equipment.

“It’s the small gestures like this that our officers make, may seem small but are actually really big, especially in the eyes of our youth,” she said.

 “I cannot thank Capt. Patrick, Officer Cannon and Officer Davis enough for putting such a big smile on Easton’s face and making such a big impact in Easton’s life.”