A Menace
He paced around her property as she watched from the window through her curtains. The way he walked made him look intimidating. It looked like he had no patience today.
He then halted a car that was passing on the road. He blocked it with his body and flashed his badge. The words that would come out of his would make her blood boil.
A Nice Neighbor
Facebook / Amanda Goodson
Warwick, Rhode Island was where Amanda Goodison’s home was. She lived in a small suburb and only had her cat to keep her company. His name was Tommy.
She had already finished working and was retired. She spent most of her days visiting the nearby community pool and look at bakeries. She’d also hang out with her best friends. Despite all of that, her favorite pastime was to look after her neighborhood and its neighbors.
Strange Behavior
The Epoch Times
Amanda noticed that a police officer she’d never seen before was scoping out her neighbor, Kelly’s property. Maybe he knew her neighbor and was on good terms? But she wasn’t at her property right now.
But then it happened again, he was scoping her property again. She had a funny feeling about the situation. She needed to keep an eye on him.
Spying
Daily Mail
The officer trudged over the long grass of Kelly’s lawn. Was he searching for something? Then he started making notes…
Was he writing her up for the long grass? Kelly was an elderly woman who lived alone, surely he wouldn’t fine her because of something so petty?
Caught
Facebook / Amanda Goodson
The officer looked back in Amanda’s direction and she quickly hid, but it was too late, he was already on her porch knocking on her door.
“I answered and he’s like, ‘Hi, sorry to bother you. I just have a quick question. I noticed your neighbor’s lawn is getting really long. Have you seen her recently?’” Amanda remembers. She had to think of something quick to help her neighbor.
Thinking Quickly
Facebook / Amanda Goodson
“I’m not sure where the homeowner is but she might be at work. She’s 73, lives alone, and still works every day. It’s been hard on her without a retirement plan to help her survive”.
Amanda was trying to appeal to the officer’s sensibilities. The officer looked at her with a glare and sighed. He then asked for her name.
Getting Worse
Crimebodge
Amanda had to be honest with the officer and gave him the name, after he left she returned to the window to keep watching him. Who knows what he wanted?
It looked like the cop was in a bad mood and maybe he was just looking for someone to blame. But what he did next would surprise Amanda.
Confrontation
Szar Bail Bonds
Amanda watched as the officer yelled and waved at a car that was passing by. The car was coming through a quiet intersection and passed through without stopping at the red light.
The officer ran out to the road in front of the car which now came to a halt before him. “Hey! Really? I was right there!”, Amanda heard the officer shout. The driver immediately apologized through his rolled-down window. But what the officer said next made Amanda’s blood boil.
Asking For Favors
The Providence Journal
Instead of giving the driver a ticket, he asked him for a favor. The officer had a big frame. He was intimidating and was leaning dominantly over the driver’s side window.
Amanda thought that the officer could have asked this man for anything right now and he’d do it. As predicted, the man eagerly agreed and drove off in a hurry. Amanda regretted not filming it. But when he returned, she wouldn’t make the same mistake.
More Trouble
Owens Murphy Volkswagen
The officer went back to Kelly’s yard and began to look in through her windows. Amanda already told him she wasn’t there. What was he going to do? Break in?
Amanda was just about to go outside to defend Kelly’s property when she heard a familiar sound return. It was the man who ran the red light. This time he returned with something large sticking out of his trunk.
What Is He Doing?
KTXS
The officer waved at the man to wait and took out his notepad again. He quickly scribbled something down and stuck it to the front door of Kelly’s house.
The officer then walked over to the man’s car trunk and shouted at him to give him a hand. The driver obliged and quickly came to his aid. What on earth was he doing?
Cutting Her Grass
Orono Police Department
Amanda watched as the man helped the officer take out a lawnmower. The officer clapped the man on the back and told him to come back in half an hour.
Amanda whipped out her phone and began to film the officer mowing Kelly’s lawn. Her eyes began to fill with tears as the startling realization of his kindness began to set in. Why was he doing this?
Welfare Check
Charlotte Observer
“I kept noticing at the house, the grass kept getting longer and longer,” officer Matthew Caradimos said, speaking of Kelly’s yard so he decided to perform a welfare check during routine patrols.
When Caradimos found nobody home, he returned a couple of times more, hoping to catch the homeowner. When he found no luck, he knocked on Amanda Goodinson’s door. But when he heard what she had to say, he knew he had to do more.
Compassionate Man
Facebook / Amanda Goodson
What Amanda thought was a sigh of indifference was actually a sigh of compassion. He wrote down Kelly’s details in order to help her situation and to find a landscaper who could assist her on compassionate means.
And then, when he saw the car run the red light, he suddenly got an idea – to ask for his lawn mower. But what did Kelly think?
The Homeowner
WTHI
When the homeowner, Ellie Kelly saw the note the officer left on her door and saw the video that Amanda eventually posted to social media, she was incredibly thankful. “He just cut it,” Kelly said. “I was like, ‘Wow…,’ I started to cry.”
The video of officer Matthew Caradimos soon went viral and his good deed was proudly acknowledged by the entire community and world!
Good Karma
Amanda Goodinson
Even the Warwick police reposted the video with the caption; “Oftentimes police work is about giving back to our great community. Last week, one of the officers noticed an overgrown lawn in his beat.”
“After making sure the resident was ok and just in need of some assistance, he found a lawnmower to borrow and took care of the yard!”. What goes around will come around!