DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - You may have seen a video on social media the last few days of a sweet moment as two Decatur police officers stopped in the middle of their shift to play basketball with two kids. WAND News spoke to the officers and the couple who took the video to get their take on the light moment.
Angel and Pierre Moore of Decatur were driving down Union Street in Decatur on Saturday, when they saw a police car pull up and say something to two teenage boys playing basketball.
"And whatever they said, I mean their eyes lit up, so at that point, that kind of piqued my interest," Angel said.
Officers Nicholas Errett and Hannah Millington had stopped in the middle of their shift to challenge the boys to a game of hoops.
"We pulled up and saw kids out, and (Officer) Errett rolled down the window, and just said, 'Hey, do you guys mind if we play?' and they welcomed us with open arms," Officer Millington said.
Angel and Pierre then decided to capture the moment on video.
"So we pulled up to the side and I got the phone out and just started recording," Pierre said. "It just showed that they (were) trying to show young boys, 'We're just like y'all'."
During a challenging time for police-community relations, especially in the African-American community, it was a few minutes of pure fun and bonding.
"They schooled us," Officer Errett said, laughing. "Got to make a good moment with some kids, and hopefully we'll get to do that again sometime."
Angel posted the video on her Facebook page, and the response has been overwhelming, with more than 89,000 views, and tons of people thanking her for sharing it.
"It brightened my day, so I'm like, 'you know what, let me share this'," Angel said.
The officers said this was just one of countless positive interactions they've had with community members. This one just happened to get more attention.
"We're humans too," Officer Errett said. "We like to have fun, and look forward to the rematch if we ever meet up with them again."
