Thomas Daniel a 9 year old boy from Grand Rapids didn’t except to make a new friend on his 9th Birthday. The day started when Daniel missed the bus.

“I was sad I missed the bus, I just wanted to go to school,” Daniel said. “I started crying when it drove away.”

Little did Daniel know that police officer Austin Lynema witnessed the whole thing. “I saw him running down the sidewalk trying to chase his bus, he was in tears. I tried to stop his school bus for him,” Lynema said. “He informed me he never missed a day of school. I wanted to make sure I could help him as much as I could.”

Officer Lynema walked him back to his apartment and got permission to drive him to school. On the way is when the officer learned about Daniels birthday and that Daniel was worried that no one would come to his party after school because he was being bullied. So officer Lynema made sure to not only give Daniel a cool entrance to school but to make sure the whole GRPD squad came to Daniels party.

“When Austin came over, no one was at my birthday party because everybody had to go somewhere … to their friends’ houses to play,” Daniel said of the people he invited. “I just love Austin, because he’s the coolest guy I’ve ever met in my life”