SPANISH FORK, Utah, May 30, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — “I don’t normally post videos like this, but I feel that I need to make this video and I need to get it out there,” says Utah County Sheriff’s Deputy Greer Haymond as he looks into the camera, a slight quiver in his voice.
The video posted to Twitter shows him sitting in his patrol vehicle with a canine officer right behind him as begins to talk about what happened as he was waiting on his lunch at the Spanish Fork In-N-Out Burger.
He says he was sitting in line at the drive through, talking to a colleague on the phone and discussing a case when he heard a knock on the window.
He rolled down the window to find a little boy, who asked if he could pay for the deputy’s meal.
“Being wrapped up in the conversation I was having on the phone, I told the young man ‘Oh, no. I’m good. Thank you though,” the deputy recalls as his eyes start to well up.
Every one of us, at one time or another, has done something which, in hindsight, we regret. Today @UCSO Deputy Greer Haymond had one of those moments at In-N-Out Burger in Spanish Fork, Utah. If you know the boy mentioned in this video, text @SGTCannonPIO at (801)404-1912. pic.twitter.com/AZS7R7fsqW
— Spencer Cannon (@SGTCannonPIO) May 30, 2021
Deputy Haymond then looks straight into the camera again and says, “Young man, I want to apologize to you.”
His voice cracking with emotion, the deputy pauses before going on to tell the boy, “I didn’t give you the attention, one, that you deserve. And two, for denying you an act of kindness. I’m sorry I denied you that.”
The deputy then asks anyone who knows who the boy is to reach out to him. He says the boy was in a white Jeep Wrangler with his parents at about 3:30 Saturday afternoon at the In-N-Out.
“I would love to take this young man out for a meal and let him know just how great of a young man he is and just how sorry I am for denying him an opportunity to be kind,” says Deputy Haymond, then adding, “Because that’s what we all need right now is acts of kindness.”
He ends the video by apologizing again and asking the boy to reach out to him because “I want to get to know you, because you’re a fine young man.”
UPDATE: Sgt. Spencer Cannon, the public information officer for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, originally shared the video on his Twitter page. On Sunday night, he went back on Twitter and reported that the child’s family had been found.
“Thanks to all who viewed this video of Deputy Haymond’s call for help in finding the boy who offered to buy his meal,” Cannon wrote. “He got a message from Luke’s mother and they have plans to get together. Luke’s goodness has touched all of us but his family wishes to remain anonymous.”
