VIDEO: Inglewood PD officer lines up for pickup football with local children
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Two Inglewood Police officers took time during a recent shift to have some fun with the community. The officers spent time playing a few downs of pickup football with some local kids, and the interaction was caught on video.
FOX 11 obtained video of the pickup game from Gabriel Guerrero, who said the officers were playing with his nieces and nephews. The video shows a group of children in a parking lot playing a small game of pickup. Two officers are seen in full uniform. One of the officers lines up on defense as one of the onlookers says, "the cop's out of breath."
According to Inglewood PD, that defensive back is Officer Oliver, who played defensive lineman in college. He and his partner Officer Vitela stopped by to have fun with the kids.
After everyone lines up for the next play, the quarterback hikes the ball, and the receiver sprints to the far end of the parking lot. The quarterback throws a perfectly placed ball over the outstretched arm of Officer Oliver, into the receiver's arms for a parking lot touchdown. The quarterback knew the pass was good before it got halfway there. He could be seen jumping up with raised arms the whole time the ball was in the air. Once the receiver made the catch, the rest of the children and the adults watching went wild. Officer Oliver was a good sport about just letting up a touchdown, giving all the kids high fives.
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In his Instagram caption of the game, Guerrero said, "This is what social media [hates] to see and the side of police that never gets recognized."
The Beverly Hills Police Department chimed in on Inglewood PD's repost as well, saying, "This is what it’s all about when we aren’t out there busy catching bad guys."