The Rhode Island State Police may be protecting the smallest state -- but they're doing it with a big, caring heart.
Troopers recently went above and beyond the call of duty to cheer up a four-year-old boy who lost his favorite stuffed animal in The Ocean State.
Will Ketcher of New York City was traveling with his family on I-95 in Rhode Island when his stuffed Cheetah, Roger, fell out of the car window. Traffic was heavy at the time, so it was too dangerous for his parents to get out of the car to retrieve it, so they continued home with a very sad little boy.
When they got home, Will's mother, Stephanie Ketcher, helped him write a letter to the Rhode Island State Police. He wrote, "Dear Rhode Island State Highway Patrol. I lost my Roger ... can you please find him? I love him. Roger is a cheetah. He fell out of the car window on Interstate 95 around West Greenwich. He is about 12 inches long."
Troopers received the letter and actually conducted a search for the lost toy, but couldn't find it. But they weren't going to let it end there.
Months later, Will received a package in the mail containing a new stuffed cheetah and a letter addressed to Will. It read, "On behalf of the Rhode Island State Police, we are so sorry that Roger was lost. We spent days looking for him on the highway. We couldn't find him. We did find another cheetah walking around the highway. We stopped to talk to him. He said that he was looking for a new home in the Big Apple and we thought of you. Before we sent him to you we had to make him a Cheetah Trooper. The first cheetah trooper in the history of the Rhode Island State Police."
Will has named his new cheetah Rhody in honor of the state police.
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