A routine parking complaint turned into a heartwarming viral TikTok moment after a Kansas police officer spontaneously decided to join in on a birthday celebration.
Instead of reprimanding the family involved, Officer Grady Carl of the Emporia Police Department chose to let it slide, joining the 18th birthday celebration instead and even riding a mechanical bull.
When Officer Carl responded to the call, rather than issue a ticket, he kindly asked the family to move their car off the road. However, the warm invitation extended by the family overwhelmed the officer, leading him to take part in the festivities.
Officer Carl’s participation in the celebration was met with great enthusiasm by the partygoers. The atmosphere was filled with joy and laughter as everyone welcomed him with open arms.
Officer Carl even decided to take on the challenge of riding a mechanical bull.
“To have a call where you get to go and change it to a good wholesome event, its happy, it’s a celebration, 18-year-old birthday party,” Carl said. “A girl going into womanhood, having fun with friends. You don’t want to go give out parking tickets and fine people for that, they’re having a fun celebration.”
Orlando Castillo, a partygoer who posted the TikTok video in question, believes the video sheds a positive light on law enforcement.
“For the community and relationship, you know now you got violence and stuff going on but these videos lighten up the world a little bit,” Castillo said.
The video, captioned “Shoutout for EPD!!! Everyone has fun around here,” was shared on TikTok by Castillo and quickly gained traction.
The clip showed the moment the officer mounted the mechanical bull amidst cheers from the crowd.
Since the video was posted, it has garnered nearly seven million views on TikTok.
“Cop passed the vibe test,” one person commented.
“He earned that food and those treats,” another said.