PENDER COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies surprised a North Carolina second-grader Monday after he was recently teased for dressing like them.
Daniel Thigpen dreams of being in law enforcement and he was devastated after being bullied for wearing his career day costume -- a deputy’s uniform.
In a photo Daniel’s mother posted to social media, the 8-year-old wore a sheriff hat and shirt and was equipped with handcuffs and a walkie-talkie.
He was excited to head to Penderlea Elementary School but his mother said she knew something was wrong when he got home.
“He wasn’t his normal self, and I started asking him questions, and he said that while he was at lunch or leaving from lunch that a child was making negative comments to him about wanting to be a deputy," his mother, Lizzie Williamson, said.
Lt. James Cotten was one out of the deputies who saw on social media that Daniel was teased, so he and others decided to show up and surprise him with an escort to school.
"His demeanor just turned from being a little boy not wanting to go to school to very ecstatic and happy,” Cotten said. "The grin on his face, I swear you could see all his teeth when he grinned.”
The boy’s mother is a dispatcher for the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, so law enforcement has a lot to do with his aspiration.
“We had several long talks, and after those, he realized he is good enough to be a deputy,” Williamson said. “He can be anything he wants to be, and he still wants to be a deputy. He said it’s not going to change his mind.”
Daniel hopes this will show other students that they too can be whatever they want, and not allow other people to keep them down.
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