Deputy buys groceries for great-grandmother, children after responding to domestic disturbance call
A deputy responding to a domestic dispute at a Denver-area residence found an even bigger issue at hand — hungry children.
That deputy went above and beyond to help the family, which includes a great-grandmother raising two children.
During his near-decade in law enforcement, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Weiner often sees people in crisis.
"A lot of days it's someone's worst, worst day of their life," Weiner said. "I see a lot of suffering on the job. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of time to follow up because we're call, to call, to call, to call."
But there was one domestic disturbance call that he couldn’t put out of his mind.
On June 30, Weiner responded to the apartment where 71-year-old Vicki Green was raising two young boys. She and her partner had been arguing.
"She told me that the two boys went to bed hungry, and they woke up hungry as well," Weiner said.
A cruel act had escalated the dispute.
"He ate these two last hot dogs in the house that were supposed to be for the boys — and made them just sit there and watch while he ate them. As a father and as a parent and just as a good human being, that just felt so vengeful and so mean," Weiner said.
In the bodycam video, Weiner can be heard speaking to Green.
"I'm real worried about your kids not having any food," he said.
Instead of moving on to the next call, Weiner and his deputy partner went to a nearby grocery store.
"I just knew there was something that I could do and I didn't want to leave having that feeling later, knowing that in that situation I could do more," he said.
When he returned with bags of groceries, Green was overcome with emotion.
"It was not just an obligation or a duty. I think he did it because he cared," she said. "He was a blessing. He was, I was not his, he was my blessing."
