Viral Moment: Police Officer Comforting A Baby

The news is filled right now with photos of parents who have overdosed with their kids in the backseat of the car. Parents unconscious and babies sitting frightened, confused and in need of help. The images are heartbreaking and we all worry for the poor kids stuck in the middle. But then you see pictures like this one, a police officer comforting a baby and you feel grateful for heroes like Michelle Burton.

Credit: Facebook

Defining 'To Protect And Serve'

Michelle Burton is one of those officers who truly stands behind the motto ‘protect and serve’. She bravely walks into situations that would shock most of us to our core.

When she responded to a call and found 4 small children: a 7-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 1-month-old at the scene of an overdose, she could have written up the report and gotten the kids to the right authorities and gone home. After all, she was only two hours a way from the end of her shift.

But this mom of two wasn’t about to leave these babies without a little bit of love.

Michelle and her 2 boys Credit: Facebook

Mom First, Cop Second

So Michelle grabbed a bottle and some formula from the kitchen and took it with her to the precinct. It was there that Michelle fed the baby girl, while other officers looked after the older children, and finally lulled her to sleep. Another officer snapped this photo of Michelle. And the image of the caring police officer comforting a baby shows just what it really means to protect and serve.

When Michelle finally got home around 4am, she showed her husband Brian the photo and went to bed. Brian posted the photo to Facebook in the following post, which quickly went viral.

The post reads:

“Last night, my wife Michelle Burton told me she would be late getting off work because of call she was on where the parents of 4 small children had both overdosed. Michelle said the father was dead and the mother was critical. She spent the rest of the night taking care of these babies. She got home at 4 this morning. I've never seen her more beautiful than in this picture. What an incredible woman.”

An Example For Us All

Apparently momma Michelle has a bit of a reputation in the precinct and is often called in to comfort scared children. And seeing the peaceful sleep of the sweet baby on her shoulder, that is no surprise!

When talking to The Washington Post about her photo going viral Michelle had this to say,

“I’m overwhelmed about the whole thing, I don’t want people to think that it’s only me that does this. We all do things like this. … It was one of those nights where everybody worked together and everybody did what they needed to do.”

If we all took time out of our busy days to do what Michelle did just think of the love the world would be filled with. Thank you Michelle for reminding us to love like Jesus.

"A gracious woman obtains honor" Proverbs 11:16