Hungry Kid Desperately Tries To Sell His Teddy Bear For Food

Officer Steve Dunham never knows what to expect on the job, but I bet he didn’t expect to see an adorable 7-year-old, hanging outside of a drugstore, shopping around his teddy bear, hoping to make enough for a decent meal.

The boy was not named, but Officer Dunham told WLWT he was heartbroken as soon as he got the call.

“[The boy] told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn’t eaten in several days,” Dunham said.

The cop took the kid straight to Subway and got him a sandwich, then took him to the police station where child services took over.

Turns out the kid had four brothers, as the children were all found in a trashed home, crawling with cockroaches and an empty fridge. The kids’ parents, Michael and Tammy Bethel were charged with 10 counts of child endangerment and the kids are now under the care relatives.

Hungry Ohio boy tried to sell teddy bear for food, police say https://t.co/SiHVTdWc86 pic.twitter.com/o2FtXbLFv5

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 14, 2016

“[We] would like to go home at the end of the day feeling like [we’ve] done something positive and, you know, had some kind of positive impact,” Dunham said.

If the kids continue to get meals without having to peddle their bears, you can bet he made a positive impact on those kids.

h/t fwf