Gentle Cop Steps In Mid-Meltdown Of A Boy With Special Needs

Kyson Baler is a 9-year-old boy with autism living in Rigby, Idaho.

When Kyson found out that he was getting a new case worker at his developmental disability agency, he was extremely distressed. He ran out of the agency’s building, which was right next to the local police station, and sat on the sidewalk.

At the same time, Officer Chris Scott pulled up to the building. He saw Kyson and decided to try to help.

“He looked like he kind of had a bad day, so I pulled over and I sat down,” Scott told ABC 8.

Scott sat patiently with Kyson. Slowly, the boy’s mood began to change.

“I just sat there for a few minutes and let him do his thing,” Scott said.”He pointed at my patch and I happened to have a challenge coin on me that had the patch on the opposite side and then badge on the other side. I gave him that and said are you ready to go back inside? He had a smile on his face and he was good to go.”

According to Kyson’s mother, the little boy wants to be a police officer when he grows up. He quickly made a connection with Officer Scott—and Scott appreciated the experience, too.

“When I got back to the police department, I had a smile on my face,” Scott said.

Officer Scott didn’t know that the new caseworker had taken his picture.

“The officer wasn’t even aware that the picture was taken,” said Kyson’s mother, Jessica Baler, in an interview with Inside Edition. “I didn’t know who he was [either].”

“It’s priceless,” she said. “That picture says a thousand words.”

The caseworker posted the photo online, where it quickly went viral. Scott found out about it during a visit to his police station.

“I went to dispatch the night before last and the dispatcher said ‘Hey, nice picture,’ and I said ‘What are you talking about?’ They showed it to me,” Scott said. “I said ‘Where did you guys get that?’

Soon, the photo had spread far beyond the borders of the small Iowa town.

“I never imaged the reaction was going to be so huge,” Baler said. “I mean, we have had thousands of shares all over the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Egypt. The photo has been shared over and over.”

“For you to take the time to sit down with Kyson, means the world to me,” Baler said to Scott. “Thank you.”

“He took the time to make sure that he was okay, to comfort him,” Baler said. “It just shows the compassion he truly had instead of just of moving on past it…I think it is just reassuring for the whole community.”