A South Carolina State Trooper is being called a hero after helping an autistic boy stay calm when his mothers car broke down on the side of the highway. Charlie Watkis said she and her son, Jeriah were broken down on the side of I-70 when a state trooper came to their rescue and she wants to tell everyone about it.
“The first thing my son did when he saw the blue lights was look at me I think we’re in trouble,” Watkis said.
Of course, they weren’t in trouble, in fact, Watkis says when South Carolina Highway Patrolman Adam Klimek showed up, he saved them. Jeriah was stressed because of all the traffic and the heat.
“He was having a tough time with the traffic that was going by him, at one point he even had to put on ear muffs to drown out the sound that was irritating him,” said Cpl. Adam Klimek.
So trooper Klimek invited Charvia and Jeriah to sit in his air-conditioned patrol car–but that’s not all he did.
“Officer Klimek found ways to occupy him while I was trying to make phone calls to find out how long it was going to be for the tow truck to come and it was hard for me to concentrate on that and tend to Jeriah at the same time,” said Watkis.
“I knew that he was having problems, so when I invited them back to my car, we talked about his interests and one of his interests was playing on his iPad actually, I asked him what do you like to do on your iPad, and he said watch Netflix, so I knew right then. I got my computer out, logged into my Netflix and had him choose his own movie to watch while we waited for the tow truck. He chose ‘Curious George’ one of his favorites,” Klimek said.
Watkis says trooper Klimek took what could have been a terrible situation and went above the call of duty to make sure they were ok.
“I really don’t think I went above and beyond, I treated them like I hope my family would be treated if they were on the side of the road,” Klimek commented.
Watkis says she will never forget the kindness shown to her and her son.
“I just want to tell him thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts, and we really appreciate you.”
H/T WBTW