Police officers Justin Gower and Cale Hawkins were on patrol in Cedar Park one day. During a routine traffic stop they noticed a father driving dangerously with his three children.
Gower stopped the car at a gas station and inside was a 1-year-old, 3-year-old, and 4-year-old, each riding without a car seat. Officer Gower was not happy.
“I was upset because it’s extremely dangerous,” Gower says. “I have kids and I know how fragile they are, especially how young these kids were.”
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But Officer Hawkins recognized the father. He had stopped him earlier this month. Hawkins knew something else: This father was financially struggling. The two officers decided not to give the dad a ticket.
“They’re trying to get things going, they’re going in the right direction, and to issue them three citations for each child, would just devastate them,” says Gower.
Instead they went back to the department and pooled their money with a few other officers. They bought the family three brand new car seats.
“Money is not the issue, it’s the issue of can you help them, and so that was the easiest way we saw, the fastest path to helping them,” says Hawkins.
This is what real police work looks like: protecting citizens and protecting children — that is real justice.
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