Policeman Pulls off Hood of Just-Arrested Thief and Recognizes Own Son – Story of the Day

When Officer Dawson and his team respond to a 911 robbery, he is shocked to find his son among the perpetrators. The teen refuses to speak up, so the officer seeks his squad's help to uncover the truth, learning his son's disturbing secret.

Officer Dawson and his team hurriedly hopped into their police cruisers as soon as they were intimated about the crime scene. "We have to hurry, Baxton. To 5th Avenue, now!"

"A 241 at 65 main... The reports confirm the gang broke into the store early this evening. They are currently inside the establishment and have held the customers and store staff captive."

As the officers drove to the location, the radio transmitter kept them informed about the happenings. "Calling all units. Officers Dawson and Baxton here," said Officer Baxton. "We're on our way to the crime scene, and we'll need backup."

"Copy that! Dispatching more units. Be careful, officers! Robbers are allegedly armed."

"Roger that.Thanks!"

When the cops arrived, they circled the store from every angle. Officer Dawson and Baxton slowly approached the store's entrance and exchanged a brief glance. "You ready?" whispered Officer Baxton.

As Officer Dawson nodded, the two officers smashed the door open with all their might and stormed inside the establishment.

"Freeze! Weapons on the ground!" Officer Dawson cried as more officers poured into the store and apprehended the gang. At that moment, he spotted one of the criminals attempting to flee down an aisle.

"You! Yes, you! Well, where the hell do you think you're going?" He snatched the robber's hood and hauled him to the front of the store. He then searched him for any weapons. "You're unarmed. Are you with them?" he asked, cuffing him immediately.

The alleged robber didn't utter a word. His head was bent, and he was trying to hide his face.

"You deaf or somethin'? And what's the deal with this hood? Can't even see your face!"

As Officer Dawson pulled off the robber's hood, he stood back in shock. "LOGAN?" he cried, staring at his son. "What the hell!? What are you doing here?"

"Dad, I…" he stammered. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't want to do this. I just… I had no choice."

"Jesus, God, why? Oh my god! Did you just try to harm innocent folks and plunder a store?"

"Hey, hey, Dawson, calm down," Officer Baxton intervened as the rest of the robbers were apprehended and led to the cruisers. "We can go a bit easy on the kid."

"He tried to harm civilians, Baxton! Jesus!"

"I'm sure we can deal with this later, Dawson. Any, umm, arms on him?"

Parents are always there for their children, no matter how bad times get.

"No, no, nothing. But we can't just let this slide."

"Dad…" Logan pleaded. "I was really—"

"Why did you do it? Does your Mum know? Oh, God. Jesus. What am I supposed to tell her?"

"I'm very sorry, Dad. Please, please let me go. Let's not tell her. Please," he begged.

"This is about your family, dude," Officer Baxton advised. "Let's do one thing. I'm going to the station. You take the child and leave. What do you think? You can put him on house arrest or whatever. You know, maybe sit him down and talk to him?"

Officer Dawson's mind went blank for a brief moment. He'd spent his entire career as an honest, law-abiding cop who had never let a criminal go free. He realized he couldn't let Logan go because it would be unfair to so many innocent citizens.

At that moment, Officer Dawson couldn't help but recall the funny banter between him and his son. "So, Daddy, if I do a bad thing and become a bad guy, will you catch me, too?"

Logan was only ten years old when he innocently asked Officer Dawson if he'd ever arrest him. Back then, the officer dismissed it as his son's folly, not expecting it to become a reality eventually.

"TAKE HIM AWAY!" he said, wiping away the tears that had welled up in his eyes. "He'll be punished for his crimes!"

"What are you doing, Dawson?"

"I'm serious, Baxton! He won't be allowed to leave unless he explains why he was here as a goddamn thief! C'mon, to the car, now!"

Logan was carried to a police cruiser and driven to the station. As a father, it was not easy for Officer Dawson to do that. His heart bled to see his son behind bars, and he knew Logan wouldn't be released so quickly as he'd admitted to being a part of the heist ring.

But what really bothered Officer Dawson was the question—why did Logan do it? He got a decent monthly allowance, and all of his expenses were covered. Even during the recession, Officer Dawson and his wife managed their finances effectively, and they never said no to Logan for anything. Then what drove him to steal?

"Are you serious about this, mate? You're going to keep him in the lock-up all night?" Officer Baxton inquired as Officer Dawson was leaving the station for the night.

"Yep, Baxton," Officer Dawson said. "And I've asked Jerry to keep an eye on him 'cause I don't trust you."

"Hey, buddy, I—"

"Good night, Bax. I'll see you tomorrow."

As Officer Dawson arrived home, he pulled into the driveway and took a deep breath before getting out of his car. His mind was spinning with questions. He was worried about how he would break the news to his wife that he'd arrested their son.

"Did Logan call you? He hasn't been home all day!" his wife casually said as he slumped onto the living room couch.

Officer Dawson didn't have a choice but to tell her the truth. "He's not coming home, Clara," he said. "I... I arrested him."

"Arrested?" she gasped. "Joe, what are you talking about? I... I don't understand!"

"He was robbing a store!" he said. "I had to arrest him, Clara! I didn't have a choice!"

"God, but did you leave him to rot in that cell of yours? We could've talked it out, Joe!"

"No!" he said. "We can't talk it out! We don't talk things out with criminals! We push them to confess to their crimes!" he said as he rose to his feet. "Well, I'm not hungry. So I'm off to sleep."

But Officer Dawson couldn't sleep a wink that night. No man can sleep when his teenage son is arrested and put in jail, and his wife and partner both advise him that he could have 'talked things out' or 'dealt with the family matter separately.'

Officer Dawson wondered if he'd done the right thing by arresting Logan. He sat up on his bed and tried to read for a while. When nothing could take his mind off his son, he went to Logan's bedroom.

"Why did you steal, Logan?" Officer Dawson asked himself. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Officer Dawson began looking for clues in Logan's room. He didn't find anything in his closet or under the bed. But the cop found a notebook in Logan's bedside drawer. As he flipped through it, a note fell on the ground. Officer Dawson picked it up and read it.

- $400 Steve

- $500 Steve

- $250 Steve

Officer Dawson flipped the note that looked like a rough log, but nothing else was written on it. "That's all? Who in the world is Steve?"

Officer Dawson suspected something was amiss. He immediately returned to his bedroom, grabbed his phone, and contacted the station. "Hey, hi, Jerry. Could you tell me if we arrested a particular Steve in the gang robbery case today?" he asked.

"Just give me a minute, officer. I'll be right back."

Jerry returned to the call a few moments later. "No, sir," he replied. "There's no Steve among them. I also looked up their middle names. But, uh, no, Steve."

"Oh, is it?" he asked. "Well, could you please check, umm, if they have any acquaintances—you know, family, friends, exes—with that name? Ask Logan as well…But yeah, interrogate them individually. I mean, make sure no one knows we're looking for this Steve guy. I think we might have to make a few more arrests in this case."

Officer Dawson didn't know if the rough-log-looking note would lead him to the truth, but something was better than nothing.

The next day, Officer Dawson visited Logan's best friend, Adam, to inquire about the mysterious stranger whose name had popped up in his son's notebook. Since Logan and Adam were best friends, Officer Dawson guessed talking to Adam would help. He noticed the boy looked terrified as he heard Steve's name.

"He…he must've forced Logan. Logan would never do such a thing, Mr. Dawson. Really."

"Did you know Logan was going to be a part of this robbery? Look, Adam, if you know about it and withhold the facts from the police, it makes you Logan's accomplice. If you don't tell me the truth right now, I'll have to summon you to the station for questioning."

Adam gulped hard and looked right into Officer Dawson's eyes. "I... I know him, sir. I know that Steve guy," he confessed.

"Great! Brilliant! So tell me everything from the start. How do you know this Steve? And what does all of this have to do with my son?"

"It all happened last month," Adam began. "Logan, I, and some of our friends… we… we went out for a game of billiards after school. We were just having fun when Steve approached us. Steve challenged Logan, saying he would bet money that Logan won't be able to defeat him in billiards. I mean, we all know Logan's a pro at the game, so we thought we would win. But we were… I mean… we shouldn't have done that."

"You guys placed bets with a random guy?" Officer Dawson asked. "Jesus. Good god. Then? What happened next?"

"Sorry. We shouldn't have," Adam admitted nervously. "I mean, we didn't really want to. I didn't want to do it. I told Logan it was all a bad idea. Steve didn't look like the right guy."

"Didn't look like the right guy? What do you mean?"

"He wasn't alone. He had, like, guys with him…Tall, muscular dudes with tattoos. I told Logan it was all a bad idea, that, you know, we should just leave. But Logan's ego took over. He… He kept betting until we were all out of cash."

"And then what? Jesus. Don't tell me you guys loaned out money."

Adam sighed. "We did. You're right. But not all of us. Just Logan. He used Steve's money because he was just obsessed with defeating him. Honestly, I don't think the guy we met was named Steve. People like him in movies don't usually give off their real names. Right?"

"And, kid, in the same movies, the criminal's friends and family sometimes come out as their accomplices. Good for you that you told me everything. Where exactly did you meet Steve? The billiards place?"

Adam shook his head. "We did meet him there, but when Logan lost all his money, Steve took him to some sort of shelter…We—we were too scared to follow them, so we went home…."

"Don't you realize that if I go down, your son goes down with me!?"

Logan couldn't repay Steve immediately, so Steve and his guys took the young boy with them. Logan was terrified the next day at school and didn't tell anyone what had happened until Adam spotted him crying alone in the playground.

He said Steve was after him for the money. Logan didn't know how to repay Steve, so he asked Steve for help. "Logan didn't tell me how exactly Steve had said he would help him, but Logan was very scared. Here…" he said, handing over a business card. "We got this at the play center where we'd gone to play billiards. That's all I know. Really."

As Officer Dawson left Adam's house, he dialed Officer Baxton. "Hey, Bax, wanna look up a guy for me? He was last spotted at a play center..."

It took a week for the officers to track Steve and his men down. When the hooligans were brought to the station for questioning, they refused to admit to their crimes.

"Look, officer," Steve said. "You can't keep my men and me here. I bet you wouldn't go against the law! You must have an arrest warrant and such...do you have that?" he grinned.

"Well then, you should know I'm giving you a chance, Steve, to reduce your problems," said Officer Dawson. "You shouldn't have involved my son in your mess! Just confess, alright? Do you frequently target teens and engage them in your petty crimes?"

"I told you that my men and I did nothing, officer! You're wasting our time!"

"Oh really?" Officer Dawson scoffed. "Then I believe you'd like to see something... Please play the clip for our guest, Baxton."

Officer Baxton pressed some keys on his laptop and turned the screen toward Steve. The computer played footage of Steve and his men harassing other teenage children and of the 'shelters' from where they operated.

Steve banged the table with his fist. "Don't you realize that if I go down, your son goes down with me!?"

"Well, we have more proof if you'd like to see it, Steve, aka Robin," said Officer Dawson. "As for my son, he will pay for his crimes, but the point is that he didn't commit any. He did succumb to your temptation and agreed to take part in the robbery.

"We saw that on the store's camera footage. But he was standing in a corner like a scaredy cat and didn't touch a single civilian. So he might be left off with a lighter sentence. He's a cop's son, and he confessed everything. He was just scared to speak the truth earlier. You better worry about yourself, Steve!"

***

A few months later…

After serving his sentence, Logan stepped out of the precinct, and Officer Dawson embraced him tightly. "Young man, I'm proud of you!" he exclaimed. "I'm just so proud you did it!"

"Thanks, Dad," Logan smiled. "But what about Steve's debt? I mean, he's gonna come after us after he's released. Right?"

"Well, don't worry about that, son. It'll take a LONG time for him to get out. For now, let's head home. Your mum must be waiting for you. She missed you."

"I missed her too, dad," Logan said. "And I missed you too. Thanks for helping me out even though I screwed up."

"Hey, c'mon," Officer Dawson patted the young boy's shoulder. "I'm a cop, but a father too. Don't forget, Logan, that no matter how badly you screw up, you gotta let your parents know about it. Parents might be a little strict at times, but we love our children. OK?"

In tears, Logan hugged his father and promised never to lie again. "I promise, Dad," he said. "I promise. I just… I love you."

What can we learn from this story?

• Parents are always there for their children, no matter how bad times get. Officer Dawson was devastated to discover his son was involved in a robbery, but despite everything, he stayed by his son's side and constantly steered him in the right direction.
• With the right people supporting you, you can always make your wrongs right. Logan was brave enough to confess to his crime and serve a sentence. But none of it would've been possible without Officer Dawson, who encouraged his son to do the right thing, although his partner and wife advised him otherwise.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a pregnant girl who was robbed by a gang in broad daylight. Shockingly enough, one of the gang members turned out to be her boyfriend.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.