Good Cop, Good Cop

Peter Holley:

When Roeland Park police officer Mark Engravalle was dispatched to a local Wal-Mart after a woman was caught shoplifting on Monday, he could have treated the incident like any other petty theft.

Instead of handcuffing Sarah Robinson and taking her to jail, however, he started a conversation with the mother of six, who told him that her family had struggled since the drowning death of her husband in 2011. Now Robinson and her daughters — 5-year-old Emily, 13-year-old Sophia, 12-year-old Angelina, 4-year-old Miley and twins Becky and Bella — were living out of their car, which had recently been robbed, according to the Kansas City Star.

After being caught trying to steal baby wipes, shoes and diapers, Robinson told Engravalle that she had attempted to lift the items in a desperate effort to provide for her daughters.

Engravalle, who had noticed that some of the children were barefoot and had dirty feet, went back inside the store and quietly purchased the stolen merchandise for the family, who were gathered in the parking lot crying at the time, according to the paper. Robinson told ABC News that the officer even let her daughters pick out their shoes.

“Obviously she is going through a tough time,” Engravalle told NBC affiliate KSHB. “Wal-Mart might see her as a criminal, but I just saw her as a mom going through a really difficult time.”

It total, Engravalle spent $300 of his own cash, a gesture that overwhelmed Robinson.