N.B. Mountie replaces girls’ stolen tricycles: ‘Just absolute genuine kindness’

BLACKS HARBOUR, N.B. — A New Brunswick Mountie is being praised for an act of kindness towards two young girls heartbroken by the theft of their tricycles.

The Curtis family of Blacks Harbour, a small seaside village west of Saint John, noticed their daughters’ two tricycles missing from their driveway last week.

The tricycles belonged to Sawyer, 2, and her sister Ramsey, 4, who immediately became concerned about her missing trike.

“I thought, ‘Gee, that’s really heartless,” said Kristi Curtis, mother of the two girls. “It’s kind of mind-blowing.”

Curtis put a sign on the family’s window informing neighbours of the theft and then decided to file a police report.

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RCMP Const. Anthony Leighton arrived at the family home on Friday to take their statements and ended up befriending the young family.

“I went out and I met this beautiful family,” he said. “It broke my heart to know these two little girls had to go through this situation.”

After speaking with his wife, Leighton decided to purchase two new trikes for the girls.

“This is not something I needed to do, this is something I wanted to do,” he said. “I joined the RCMP (because) I love people, I love our communities. I like to see good in this world. I believe that one good contribution to our community will lead to another.”

Leighton made the surprise delivery to the young girls on Saturday, prompting shrieks of joy and high fives.

“My daughter Ramsey, she just started spinning around the yard. My other daughter, she’s so shy and she just kind of stood there and said, ‘Mine? Is it mine?’” she said.

“Him coming with two new bikes to surprise them, it just blew us away. It was just absolute genuine kindness. We’ve never had anything like that done for us.”

Leighton said his “heart was warm” after giving the children their new trikes and he’s even thinking of the thieves who took the original ones.

“I may never know the situation or understand why someone would have stolen those two little girls’ bikes,” he said. “Maybe they have children. Maybe someone needed bikes.”

The officer’s chivalrous gesture was shared on social media, and he began receiving messages of praise from across the province. He said he hopes the story will inspire others to pay it forward.

“We have such a great country. We have such great communities and we have such a great police force and members in it,” he said. “We are fortunate in this country to have such good people. This is the Canadian way.”

The girls rode their new tricycles at the playground all weekend and have been bringing them in at night for safekeeping — and also so they can ride them in the living room, Curtis said.

(Global News)

The Canadian Press