San Diego Police Officers Make 4-Year-Old Boy’s Day

Alexander Sanchez arrived dressed in his own cop uniform

ByABC News
October 8, 2014, 3:08 PM
Officers from the San Diego Police Department surprised a 4-year-old boy with a station tour.
Officers from the San Diego Police Department surprised a 4-year-old boy with a station tour.
San Diego Police Department

— -- A San Diego boy who approached a police officer asking for a sticker ended up with much more after the cop invited him back to the police station.

In a photo posted yesterday on the San Diego Police Department’s Facebook page, Alexander Sanchez, 4, is seen parked in the middle of around 20 police officers, dressed himself in a police uniform and riding on his mini-police motorcycle.

Alexander arrived at the police station last Wednesday on his toy police motorcycle at the invitation of a police sergeant who had been completing paperwork in a parking lot near Alexander’s home when the boy approached him and asked for a police sticker.

The sergeant told Alexander he did not have any stickers at the moment but would have something even better.

That something included giving Alexander the celebrity treatment at the station, including the photo op, a tour of the station and a chance to sit on the real, life-sized version of a police motorcycle.

“He absolutely lit up,” Officer Amanda Estrada told ABC News. "He was so excited to have all of these officers there and talking to him.”

Alexander’s aunt, Ana Villegas, posted a video on Facebook showing Alexander introducing himself to all the cops as “Officer Xander.”

“The motorcycles came out with sirens & everything! As usual xander was already dressed the part in his police uniform lol,” wrote Villegas, who could not be reached today by ABC News.

“A huge thank you to the ?#?sandiegopolice? off Coronado Ave. U guys made today unforgettable for him!,” she wrote. “His dream came true.”

Villegas told the U-T San Diego newspaper that Alexander has autism and dreams of becoming a police officer.

"I don't think they realize just what they did for Xander and for us," Villegas told the newspaper. "This couldn't have come at a better time."

Officer Estrada, who was at the station to witness it all, says that Alexander’s visit was just as much of a treat for the police officers themselves.

“What we want is for kids to come up to us when they’re lost or scared or need help and instead they’re often afraid to approach us,” Estrada said. “It was just incredibly refreshing to see a kid so excited to see police officers.”

“It was so nice to see because we don’t often get that reaction,” she said.