Wyandotte Police Officer Morgen Gardocki
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – While the public often hears about the negative encounters police officers have with people, too often acts of kindness, as demonstrated by Officer Morgen Gardocki on Sept. 19, go unnoticed.
Deputy Police Chief Archie Hamilton said that during a late-night patrol, at 12:35 a.m. Sept. 19, in the 3400 block of Fifth Street, Gardocki saw a 30-year-old Wyandotte man riding a bicycle on the dark street, balancing a large cardboard box. Because the man’s behavior was consistent with those who may be committing thefts, the officer stopped the man to question him.
What he found was different from his original assessment: The box was full of scavenged returnable containers, which the man said he was redeeming for the deposits, since he was hungry and needed money to buy food.
Afterward, Gardocki went back to the Wyandotte police station, where he collected the returnable containers and a significant amount of food, and took it to the man at his residence.
Hamilton said negative incidents with the police make up less than 1 percent of their contacts with the public.
“For every negative video of a law enforcement officer, I can show you thousands of heartwarming and heroic videos that truly represent the law enforcement officers in this country,” he said. “This incident illustrates the empathy that is so often displayed by our police officers, but is not known by the general public.”