When officers Scott Marsh and Zach Pricer of the Huntington Beach Police Department in California got a call to investigate a “suspicious occupied vehicle,” they didn’t expect their investigation to play out the way it did. For one, they didn’t find anyone suspicious inside the vehicle.
When they approached the vehicle in a parking lot at Cross Park near Graham Street and Edinger Avenue, they didn’t find a perp.
Instead, they found an 11-year-old girl and her mom that were living out of their car.
Marsh immediately reached out to the police department’s Homeless Task Force to help the family find housing.
Pricer thought he would help put the girl at ease while mom talked with someone from the task force.
“For an 11-year-old girl, to see a police officer towering over her is a scary thing,” said Pricer, 38, told The Orange County Register. “I was trying to break the ice and get her to feel comfortable with me.”
Pricer, who has been an officer of the law for the last 13 years, also used hopscotch as a way to find out more about how the girl was living and her welfare.
“It distracted her from an adult problem,” Marlatt said.
The 11-year-old girl didn’t know how to play hopscotch.
Teaching a kid hopscotch
Pricer was more than happy to teach her.
He explained the rules and then demonstrated how to play.
The 11-year-old found this quite amusing.
“Your feet touched the line, but I’m going to let you go because it’s your first time,” Pricer said when the girl gave it a go. “I’ll give it to you.”
Her next attempt earned her a high five from Pricer.
A video of Pricer and the girl’s game was posted on Facebook.
Making waves online
It ended up going viral and was liked more than 47,000 times and viewed more than 1.7 million times.
“This morning an officer checked on a suspicious occupied vehicle in the area of Graham and Edinger,” the video’s caption explained.
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“During his investigation, he learned the people in the vehicle were a mother and her 11-year-old daughter and they had been living out of their car. The officer contacted our Homeless Task Force to help arrange housing. As the officer worked on housing arrangements with the mother, another officer on scene, Officer Pricer, began displaying his expertise in hopscotch to the daughter. #Copslovehopscotch.”
There were more than 3,000 comments on the post.
“Very sweet, but the officer is out. You can’t use your hand to balance when picking up the marker,” said one Facebook user.
“Way to go Officer Pricer, you’re a good man.”
The police department promised to fill Pricer in on those rules.
“So wonderful to see HBPD helping this mother and daughter,” said another Facebook commenter.
“I know our own GGPD do allot of good to. Some only see the badge and not the human beneath the badge just like us.”
While many commenters commended the officers, some expressed their concern for the family.
“This makes me so sad & happy at the same time. Prayers for that woman & her daughter. May God meet their needs. May God bless the police offers that helped them out and took the time,” one commenter said.
Watch the officer and the little girl playing in the video below. We’re thankful that officers like Pricier exist.
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