A Michigan police officer is being lauded for an act of kindness he offered to an elderly woman at a gas station.
Seth Kazz—who owns and operates the Little Mack Citgo in St. Clair Shores, MI—posted a picture on Facebook of Officer Todd Bing talking with Delores Marotta, whose husband had recently passed away, and who had only three dollars available for gasoline.
When Officer Bing learned about this dilemma, he went to Kazz and gave him a $20 bill to help the woman fill her gas tank. Bing then went back outside and resumed the refueling.
Kazz wrote on Facebook, "An elderly woman came into my station today and gave me $3 in change to put on her gas pump. A police officer was standing behind her and happened to hear the amount and saw she was using a cane, struggling to walk back to her car. He went outside and told her to sit in the car as he would pump the gas for her. After a few minutes of getting to know one another he realized she was really struggling and didn't have any gas or money left."
The post has now had more than 4,400 "likes" and more than 20,000 "shares."
Kazz told POLICE Magazine, "My goal behind this post is to let people know that police officers risk their lives on a day-to-day basis… for one purpose—that's to keep us safe. Officers nowadays are being labeled as the bad guys but are far from it. Look what a simple act of kindness did for this lady. Imagine if we all stuck together and did more good than bad. This world would be a better place."
Kazz wrote on Facebook, "Nowadays there's so much negativity towards police officers. No one respects them. We hear all the complaints and 'bad' stories. I'm not saying every officer is perfect, I'm sure some are at fault at times. We all make mistakes, but we should all respect, appreciate, and thank them for what they do."
Kazz concluded in his Facebook post, "Leaving your family every day to try and make sure everyone's else's is safe can be tough. Think about it—who do you call when you're in danger? Who's running in harms way as you're running away?"
One member of the community commented, "Thank you sir! Thanks for your service as well."
Another citizen commented, "We applaud you sir! Blue Lives matter!"