Police officer 'pays it forward' for mother who shoplifts from clothing store in Connecticut

FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (WPVI) -- A Connecticut police officer ended up paying for stolen clothing after a mother was caught on camera stealing clothes for her child.

Sgt. Hector Irizarry was the supervisor on the shoplifting call at the Kohl's store in Fairfield.

After arresting the 27-year-old mother, who was in the store with a young child, Sgt. Irizarry decided to see what was in the bag.

"As I'm going through the bag, I notice that it's a lot of children's clothing," Irizarry said.

That's when the sergeant, a father himself, made a decision.

"I took the clothes over to the cash register, I decided to pay for them myself and she didn't know what I was doing," Irizarry said. "Of course, she got emotional, the person with her got emotional and she asked 'what can I do to pay you back?'"

The sergeant's answer was simple: pay his good deed forward. It's something that made his police chief proud.

"This is just another example of officers doing their job, and at the end of the day, saying I'm a dad, I care about your kids and I'm going to help you put clothes on your daughter," the police chief of Fairfield said.

"It was just something I felt compelled to do, and it really came from the heart," Irizarry said. "I just wanted to show law enforcement in a positive light."

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