By Suzie Ziegler
SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — An officer was praised after going above and beyond the call of duty for a devastated young boy this week.
According to ABC 4, Officer Dan Johnson was called to take a theft report after 12-year-old Angel Gonzalez saw two men stealing his bike from the balcony of his family’s apartment.
“I was just in shock and didn’t know what to do,” Gonzalez told ABC 4. “I just screamed, ‘Hey that’s my bike.’”
Johnson says he knew exactly how Angel was feeling.
“I had my bike stolen when I was roughly the same age and I mean, that’s your wheels, that’s how you get around,” Johnson told reporters. “The look on his face was worse than the bike being stolen because it was just kind of a look of defeat.”
Later that day – with no bike or leads – Johnson decided to take matters into his own hands.
According to ABC 4, Johnson bought a new bike at Walmart for $140 and presented it to a shocked Angel.
“I feel bad about yesterday. I haven’t been able to get that bike back,” Johnson says in a video recorded by one of Angel’s family members. “We got you this bike here. Got you a brand new bike, with a brand new lock.”
Angel thanked the officer and gave him a hug.
“I was really shocked,” Gonzalez said in the video. “I was like, ‘Wow. There are still good people in this world.’”
Johnson says he isn’t special, and that he was just trying to do the right thing.
“Good cops aren’t rare. They’re everywhere from all departments, all the way around,” Johnson told ABC 4.