A Colorado woman, upset about what she sees as recent violence against police officers, went to her local police station on Monday, but didn’t report a single crime.
Instead, 83-year-old Mary went to hug a cop. Her Labor Day embrace with 20-year veteran Chris Steiner, captured in surveillance footage, went viral, KDVR reports.
Mary, who declined to give her last name, and her husband have written Christmas cards to police since 1961. It’s a longtime cause she continued when she pressed the buzzer at the police station door and was asked what her business was.
“That I wanted to express my appreciation to what our police people are doing,” Mary said. “This policeman came out, and, well, the minute he came out, I gave him a hug and told him how much I appreciated what the police people are doing.”
Late last month, Darren Goforth, a sheriff’s deputy in Texas, was fatally shot while on duty.
“They put their lives on the line for our safety,” President Barack Obama said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. “Targeting police officers is completely unacceptable — an affront to civilized society.”
A separate Post article notes police on-duty fatalities have dropped by more than half since the 1970s.