On Nov. 20, Officer Philip Walling of the Owensboro Police Department responded to a call for theft from a motor vehicle. When he arrived at the residence, the owner, Shawna Riley, invited him in. She explained that Christmas gifts had been stolen from her car, and it was then that Walling noticed two small children in the home. Riley also told him about a bracelet that had been stolen, and he could tell she was visibly upset.
“It was given to me after I lost my first born son almost seven years ago, and although it is not valuable to other people, it means the world to me, for many different reasons,” Riley said.
Walling took the report of missing items, returned to work and continued answering calls.
“But it stuck in my head,” Walling said. “She has small kids and the gifts.”
An 11-year member of OPD, Walling remembered how he felt when he was first hired and had small children and wondering how he would make Christmas special for his children.
“First Presbyterian Church helped me,” he said. “I remembered that and what it felt like, and this was my chance to payback that favor to me.”
In her Facebook post, Riley said that she had cried all day long, knowing nothing could really be done.
“I had given up, waved the white flag and accepted defeat,” Riley wrote.
Then, she got a knock at the door and it was Walling, “the same officer that took my report between sobs and panic attacks.”
Walling gave her some money to help her to buy the Christmas presents again.
“This one man restored my hope and faith in humanity when this … world gave me yet another hit that for once had broken my spirits,” Riley wrote.
Walling said he did not do anything another officer would not have done as OPD officers help out with many charitable events over the holiday season.
Riley sees it differently and wants to make “this man and his kind gesture known.”
“He deserves to be recognized for the angel in blue that he is,” she said.
