AVON, Ohio — Child safety seats reduce deaths by 71% in infants and 54% in toddlers, yet more than 600,000 children in our country under 14 ride without a safety seat or restraint system. There are car seat laws in all 50-states and this week, Avon Police happened upon a woman who didn't have car seats for her children.
Tamra Mccoy’s kids are her world and she said she was stunned to see police surrounding her car after running into Meijer in Avon Saturday.
“I am thinking what's going on, I am trying to be nosy, and like what's going on and I see them by my car and I'm like oh this is not good,” Mccoy said.
Mccoy went Instacart shopping to make a quick $30 and left three of her four kids in the car. All of the kids were under the age of nine and not in car seats. Instead of getting defensive, she told the police what she was going through.
“Listen, I am a single mom,” Mccoy said. "My husband is away. I am doing the best I can do. I may need some help.”
While police protect communities from crime, their job goes beyond that. In that moment with Mccoy Avon police chose service, instead of punishment.
“We're out there trying to do the best we can for the community,” said Avon Police Chief Dan Fischbach. “Sometimes that's taking enforcement action. Sometimes it's taking a more helpful approach and trying to make it an educational situation for somebody when that's appropriate.”
Avon police took Mccoy shopping rather than ticketing or arresting her for child endangerment.
"The kids went to the police station, they hung out with them got food, snacks, stuffed animals, and I got in the cruiser, and we just went to Walmart,” Mccoy said. “He got us car seats, bought miscellaneous clothes, then they gave me two gift cards from Meijer's for groceries.”
Avon police did not use taxpayer dollars to purchase the three car seats, instead they have a special fund designated for moments like this.
“We have a fund the officers contribute to out of their own pockets,” Fischbach added. “This year in particular for 2022, we took half the funds and put it towards shop with a cop and the other went to a fund we keep for this very scenario.”
Mccoy works two jobs and said it's easy for pride to get in the way when trying to make ends meet.
“They think when you see the cops, they want to take your kids,” Mccoy added. “No, they want to help you first and if they can help you, they're going to do that, but you have to be willing to accept the help.”
In the end, compassion prevailed and not only left a family safer, but taught a valuable lesson.
“I think it's good to have a good impact on the ages that they are too,” said Avon police officer Alexis Dixon. “We built that rapport with them now so hopefully they know they can come to law enforcement in the future, and we will be there to help.”
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
