13-Year-Old Calls Police To Say He Wants To Run Away From Home, Cop Decides To Look Inside His Room
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When 13-year-old Cameron Simmons from Sumter, South Carolina, called police officer Gaetano Acerra to tell him that he was planning to run away, the cop went to his house to investigate. The boy said he’d had a fight with his mother and didn’t want to live there anymore, but it was only when Acerra looked into the boy’s bedroom that he truly understood the gravity of the situation.
Cameron had almost no furniture, and his bed consisted of an air mattress that deflated during the night and gave him frequent back pain. It seems that his mother had fallen into financial difficulties since moving from Texas to care for a sick relative, and when officer Acerra saw the boy’s situation, he knew he had to help. So a few weeks later he returned with a desk, a chair, a television and a queen-sized bed for Cameron. He even gave him a Nintendo Wii that somebody had donated after hearing about the teenager’s story.
“My heart went out for him,” Acerra told WIS-TV. “I thought the little things that he needed I could give him, to make him a happier kid. I didn’t do this for publicity or to get people to notice me. I did it because I could. It was the right thing to do and I think people should do things like this.”
Police in the US often seem to get a lot of bad press, but this story goes to show that many cops are going above and beyond the call of duty in order to serve and protect. (h/t: WIS-TV)
When this 13-year-old called an officer to say he was going to run away from home, the cop decided to step in
Image credits: HLN
He went to meet Cameron Simmons to see what happened
Image credits: HLN
When the cop looked into his room he was shocked – no bed, just a deflated air mattress that gave him back pain
Image credits: worldmoney (not actual photo)
Apparently, his mother had fallen into financial difficulties since moving from Texas to care for a sick relative
So a few weeks later he returned with a real bed, a desk, a chair, a television, and a Nintendo Wii for Cameron
Image credits: HLN
“My heart went out for him… I didn’t do this for publicity… I did it because I could. It was the right thing to do and I think people should do things like this”
Image credits: HLN
Watch the video below for more on this amazing story:
The internet was quick to praise the officer for his compassion
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This story is 3 years old, but still a nice story. Would be better if you could tell us how the boy's doing now though. Is he still friends with the cop? Are things better for his mother now?
yeah I would love an update.
Yeah the other story about the racist aunt is also a year old and already posted all over internet, I prefer updates rather than repeats.
Me too.
Bored Panda is bored.
Yeah, my take exactly.
we need more story like that. most cops are good person.
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Why publicize it this way and show the boy's name and face on the internet? This will be next to his name forever.
I am from India. Here, that'd be neat enough place for a 13 year old. At least he has a room! And, a bed like that would be considered luxurious! Perspective.
We each have different battles to fight.
But it's not bad to put things in perspective.
These facts are important and true, but it's not only about perspective. There is a social phenomenom called 'relative poverty'. In a nutshell: if you are poor, but you live in a rich country or neighborhood, your social and psychological deprivation is much worse than of those, who have much less than you, but they live in area where the overall situation is quite bad. That says nothing about India (I have never been there), but as you write - the image of a proper room for a teenage boy differs, and if the room you live in doesn't fit the standard of society you live in, you are deprived and depressed. The struggle is real and heavy although it may seem absurd from different perspective. (The longest comment I have ever written - sorry! :) )
That's an excellent explanation. I'm Indian as well (lived abroad most of my life and lived in India as a teenager) and sometimes I find it silly how people in the US complain about things that are completely mundane but you are totally right and this explains why in the US, a separate room with nothing but a mattress is considered abject poverty while in India those who are truly poor live in much much worse conditions.
Sorry but I didn't read nothing about the boy being depressed for not having a proper room, the note said that the boy had a fight with his mother, without explanaition. The police officer assumed the fight was over the financial problems of the mother. Hope that fixed the situation and put the teen on his road, though.
We don't live in a third world country like India it's no comparison, a bed, tv and his own room are almost basic rights and the reason our elder generations worked and fought so hard!
exactly. thanks to perspective some may understand they are happy to have home, food and clothes plus a chance to go to school for free.
Even so, they might have problems that others don't have to face (an illness, a disability, an abusive family, you name it). Comparison is never fair and serves no one.
And I, from Germany, always find it really really strange, that poor people in the US have their own houses with gardens. If you'd want something similar in Germany, you would have to pay around 200.000 USD for something like that, or a monthly rent about 1200 USD. (Except if you live in the east of Germany or in a really rural area.)
$1200 usd would be considered inexpensive for a one bedroom apartment in NYC where they go for $2500 to $4000... guess its relative
And I, from Germany, always find it really really strange, that all these poor people have their own houses with gardens. If you have something similar in Germany, you definitely are not poor. If you live don't in the east or in a really rural area, you would have to pay around 200.000 USD for something like that, or a monthly rent about 1200 USD...
Okay, now I am confused, my original answer just switched places...
That was not the post I wanted to answer to ;)
Probably not a bad thing if every kid in India would have a queen size bed tho, right?
I am severe pain if I don't sleep on the right mattress. My perspective is this: My body wasn't raised to sleep on the floor, so it can't.
Sorry... but we do not live in India. Every country has it's trials. If nothing else it made the police officer feel that he was making some disadvantaged kid feel good about himself!
Well, he is not from India, he is from the US. Perspective.
Yes. It would be great if humans stopped reproducing so we would stop seeing situations like this.
Yes overpopulation IS the biggest issue in our world in terms of depleting resources, lack of resources for everyone, destroying the env, pollution, excessive competition. Seriously, we've been fruitful and multiplied enough.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
toilets are worthy of praise in india, and half your country shits in the street. not a good comparison
This story is 3 years old, but still a nice story. Would be better if you could tell us how the boy's doing now though. Is he still friends with the cop? Are things better for his mother now?
yeah I would love an update.
Yeah the other story about the racist aunt is also a year old and already posted all over internet, I prefer updates rather than repeats.
Me too.
Bored Panda is bored.
Yeah, my take exactly.
we need more story like that. most cops are good person.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Why publicize it this way and show the boy's name and face on the internet? This will be next to his name forever.
I am from India. Here, that'd be neat enough place for a 13 year old. At least he has a room! And, a bed like that would be considered luxurious! Perspective.
We each have different battles to fight.
But it's not bad to put things in perspective.
These facts are important and true, but it's not only about perspective. There is a social phenomenom called 'relative poverty'. In a nutshell: if you are poor, but you live in a rich country or neighborhood, your social and psychological deprivation is much worse than of those, who have much less than you, but they live in area where the overall situation is quite bad. That says nothing about India (I have never been there), but as you write - the image of a proper room for a teenage boy differs, and if the room you live in doesn't fit the standard of society you live in, you are deprived and depressed. The struggle is real and heavy although it may seem absurd from different perspective. (The longest comment I have ever written - sorry! :) )
That's an excellent explanation. I'm Indian as well (lived abroad most of my life and lived in India as a teenager) and sometimes I find it silly how people in the US complain about things that are completely mundane but you are totally right and this explains why in the US, a separate room with nothing but a mattress is considered abject poverty while in India those who are truly poor live in much much worse conditions.
Sorry but I didn't read nothing about the boy being depressed for not having a proper room, the note said that the boy had a fight with his mother, without explanaition. The police officer assumed the fight was over the financial problems of the mother. Hope that fixed the situation and put the teen on his road, though.
We don't live in a third world country like India it's no comparison, a bed, tv and his own room are almost basic rights and the reason our elder generations worked and fought so hard!
exactly. thanks to perspective some may understand they are happy to have home, food and clothes plus a chance to go to school for free.
Even so, they might have problems that others don't have to face (an illness, a disability, an abusive family, you name it). Comparison is never fair and serves no one.
And I, from Germany, always find it really really strange, that poor people in the US have their own houses with gardens. If you'd want something similar in Germany, you would have to pay around 200.000 USD for something like that, or a monthly rent about 1200 USD. (Except if you live in the east of Germany or in a really rural area.)
$1200 usd would be considered inexpensive for a one bedroom apartment in NYC where they go for $2500 to $4000... guess its relative
And I, from Germany, always find it really really strange, that all these poor people have their own houses with gardens. If you have something similar in Germany, you definitely are not poor. If you live don't in the east or in a really rural area, you would have to pay around 200.000 USD for something like that, or a monthly rent about 1200 USD...
Okay, now I am confused, my original answer just switched places...
That was not the post I wanted to answer to ;)
Probably not a bad thing if every kid in India would have a queen size bed tho, right?
I am severe pain if I don't sleep on the right mattress. My perspective is this: My body wasn't raised to sleep on the floor, so it can't.
Sorry... but we do not live in India. Every country has it's trials. If nothing else it made the police officer feel that he was making some disadvantaged kid feel good about himself!
Well, he is not from India, he is from the US. Perspective.
Yes. It would be great if humans stopped reproducing so we would stop seeing situations like this.
Yes overpopulation IS the biggest issue in our world in terms of depleting resources, lack of resources for everyone, destroying the env, pollution, excessive competition. Seriously, we've been fruitful and multiplied enough.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
toilets are worthy of praise in india, and half your country shits in the street. not a good comparison