
Two Austin police officers surprised a 19-year-old girl with a new camera after a safe-and-well check in a heart-warming story that shows the compassion of police officers.
Officers Chastity Salazar and Alexandra Parker responded to a welfare check near the Hike and Bike trail downtown where they met the teen, Chloe Gomez, who was having a bad day.
They learned that she was sad because she had to give back her yearbook class’ equipment when she graduated high school and she loved photography. The officers immediately knew they had to do something to help.
However, they weren’t sure they would have enough money to purchase the camera.
Officer Parker told KXAN, “We both looked at each other and said, ‘We need to figure out how to get her a camera,’ and we knew the price was going to be between $600 and $900, which is steeper than what we are usually able to contribute.”
The officers were not to be deterred, and enlisted the help of several Austin Police Department organizations. In total, they raised $1,500 for the camera.
Days after they took Gomez to Precision Camera and Video in north Austin to pick one out. In a video clip by KXAN, the 19-year-old can be seen happily trying out the cameras.