CRESTVIEW — Police officers could spend their day off sleeping late or binge-watching TV, but seven Crestview Police Department officers opted to help a senior citizen with his yard work.
Paul Tyner is a 93-year-old retiree of the newspaper printing industry, and when multiple squad cars and officers arrived at his home on Gillis Drive, he was shocked.
“Well, I was wondering what I did,” Tyner said.
They weren’t at his home for official business; the off-duty officers were there to trim grass and rake leaves. The idea spurred after Tyner called CPD several days ago to report three chairs on his front porch had gone missing.
“Kids play up and down this street. I’m sure they just grabbed them and took them off to where they play at,” Tyner said. “Probably some eight or nine-year-old boys got them sitting in a fort somewhere.”
Nonetheless, Tyner reported the chairs missing to CPD. Officer Shane Kriser was the responding officer to the case and noted the excessive yard debris in Tyner’s yard.
“I could tell it needed some work, so I gathered up these [other officers] to help,” Kriser said.
"I just hope somebody would do something like this for my grandma," said Officer Nate Marlar, one of those assisting with the yard work.
The officers arrived at around 8 a.m. Tuesday, with coffee in tow, and spent a little over two hours trimming, raking and bagging leaves. They removed over a dozen bags of yard waste and several branches from the front and back yards.
“I guess I should donate to the police, or at least pay my tickets,” said Tyner with a laugh.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Off-duty police tend to senior citizen's yard