Story By: Maja Mishevksa, Sub Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
This kindhearted Ecuadorian cop has made the headlines after being snapped cradling a toddler in the middle of the road as the child’s injured mum is treated by paramedics following a car crash.
The incident took place on Simon Bolivar Avenue in the Ecuadorian capital Quito when a road accident left one car overturned and several motorists injured.
Government minister Maria Paula Romo shared photos of the accident scene and the kind cop reassuring the four-year-old boy on Twitter.
She said: “A kind and good citizen, this is what everyone expects from the police. Thanks.”
The officer, identified as 35-year-old Ramon Salazar, said in a video posted by the police after the photo went viral that he was on his way home when he passed the accident scene and rushed to help a woman in one damaged vehicle.
He explained that he heard a boy crying by the side of the road, adding: “When I saw there were several people helping the woman, I rushed to help the boy.
“I approached Dylan (the boy), who does not speak Spanish and neither does his mum, and tried to distract him with a game so the paramedics could do their job.
While medics checked on the boy’s mother, Salazar said that the youngster was “inconsolable” and that “the only thing I could imagine in that moment was my son who is the same age, four, and I pictured him in my mind”.
The Ecuadorian cop continued: “I did what anyone else would have done in my position. I then hugged him with a blanket that was nearby, held him in my arms, and tried to console him.
“I used my phone to play a video that my son likes too.”
The boy’s mother and several other injured motorists were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Salazar has been working for the police for 15 years and he is also a qualified PE teacher.
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