PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — On a Sunday afternoon last Fourth of July weekend, Horsham Township Police Officer Maurice Jackson responded to a medical emergency at a community pool. A young boy, Jalen, witnessed his father suffer a cardiac event in the water.
“When I saw him sitting there, he wasn’t crying,” Jackson remembered. “He wasn’t really doing anything. He just kept saying ‘Dad, wake up. Dad, wake up.’ And I immediately grabbed him, carried him over to my patrol car.”
The father died. It was just a week before Jalen’s 4th birthday.
“I just started asking him questions like what’s your favorite color? You start having a little conversation with them and just try to do things to keep his spirits up and take his mind off of what was going on in that moment,” said Jackson. “I was scared for him.”
He kept Jalen calm and stayed with him the entire time. Days later, he received a call from Jalen’s mother. She told him that since that day, Jalen had not stopped talking about him.
“She was like … ‘He said that you made him feel safe, you comforted him.’”
Jackson has since remained in Jalen’s life, with visits, texts and calls. This past December was the first holiday for Jalen without his dad, so Jackson and his fellow officers went all out. They showed up at the boy’s home with police cars and firetrucks, sirens blaring and trucks equipped with lots of gifts.
“He sees me and immediately runs straight to me … gives me a big hug,” Jackson recalled. “He started clapping, he was jumping up and down. He was smiling.”
The two formed a deep bond, and Jalen’s mother said he loves and idolizes Officer Jackson.
“I wanted to let [Jalen] know, and I wanted to let [his mother] know that I was going to be here for as long as I can,” he said. “I gained a little best friend.”
During Black History Month, KYW Newsradio’s GameChangers honors 10 individuals or organizations that have made a significant, positive impact in communities of color in the greater Philadelphia region. KYW community affairs reporter Racquel Williams will host an evening honoring this year’s awardees on Feb. 22. View the 2023 honorees here.