Man Of Menace
She watched him from behind her curtain as he paced up and down her property. He was broad and domineering. He seemed impatient over something.
She heard him yell out to a car that was about to pass him. He walked out in front of it. His deep voice, strong build, and uniform were enough to leave the driver quaking in his boots. What he said made her furious.
A Good Neighbor
Amanda Goodison lived in a quiet neighborhood in her hometown, Warwick in Rhode Island. She lived alone with no one to keep her company but her cat, Tommy.
As a retired woman, she had a lot of time on her hands. Time that she spent going to the local swimming pool and visiting her favorite bakeries with her friends. But her favorite hobby of all was looking after her neighbors.
Odd Behavior
When Amanda first saw an unfamiliar police officer surveying the lawn of her neighbor, Kelly’s property. She imagined he was just a friend of hers who had visited her when she wasn’t there.
But when she noticed the same man walking around her yard again, she began to realize that something was off. From behind her curtain, she decided to watch him.
Eye Spy
Amanda watched as the officer paced back and forth over Kelly’s overgrown lawn. He seemed to be looking for something. Then he took out a small notepad and wrote something.
Amanda’s jaw dropped, was he going to fine her for not cutting her grass? Amanda knew if neighbors didn’t keep their grass cut under a certain height, it was actually a criminal offense but Kelly was old and alone. Suddenly, the cop’s head turned in Amanda’s direction.
Getting Caught
Amanda jumped back from the curtain but it was too late. He was already on his way. He knocked on her door.
"I answered and he’s like, 'Hi, sorry to bother you. I just have a quick question. I noticed your neighbor’s lawn is getting really long. Have you seen her recently?'”, Amanda recalled. Amanda thought fast to try to help her neighbor.
Making Excuses
She replied, “I’m not sure where the homeowner is but she might be at work. She’s 73, lives alone, and still works every day. It’s been hard on her without a retirement plan to help her survive”.
She was trying to plead to his compassion but he looked stone-cold. He let out a dismissive sigh, he whipped out his notepad and asked Amanda for her neighbor's name.
From Bad To Worse
Amanda hesitated before doing as she was told. She closed the door and went back to her curtain to see what this man would do next.
It looked pretty obvious that this cop was having a bad day and wanted someone to blame, but what he did next was just inexcusable, especially for a police officer.
Confrontation
Amanda watched as the officer yelled and waved at a car that was passing by. The car was coming through a quiet intersection and passed through without stopping at the red light.
The officer ran out to the road in front of the car which now came to a halt before him. “Hey! Really? I was right there!”, Amanda heard the officer shout. The driver immediately apologized through his rolled-down window. But what the officer said next made Amanda’s blood boil.
Asking For Favors
Instead of giving the driver a ticket, he asked him for a favor. The officer had a big frame. He was intimidating and was leaning dominantly over the driver’s side window.
Amanda thought that the officer could have asked this man for anything right now and he’d do it. As predicted, the man eagerly agreed and drove off in a hurry. Amanda regretted not filming it. But when he returned, she wouldn’t make the same mistake.
More Trouble
The officer went back to Kelly’s yard and began to look in through her windows. Amanda already told him she wasn’t there. What was he going to do? Break in?
Amanda was just about to go outside to defend Kelly’s property when she heard a familiar sound return. It was the man who ran the red light. This time he returned with something large sticking out of his trunk.
What Is He Doing?
The officer waved at the man to wait and took out his notepad again. He quickly scribbled something down and stuck it to the front door of Kelly’s house.
The officer then walked over to the man’s car trunk and shouted at him to give him a hand. The driver obliged and quickly came to his aid. What on earth was he doing?
Cutting Her Grass
Amanda watched as the man helped the officer take out a lawnmower. The officer clapped the man on the back and told him to come back in half an hour.
Amanda whipped out her phone and began to film the officer mowing Kelly’s lawn. Her eyes began to fill with tears as the startling realization of his kindness began to set in. Why was he doing this?
Welfare Check
“I kept noticing at the house, the grass kept getting longer and longer," officer Matthew Caradimos said, speaking of Kelly’s yard so he decided to perform a welfare check during routine patrols.
When Caradimos found nobody home, he returned a couple of times more, hoping to catch the homeowner. When he found no luck, he knocked on Amanda Goodinson's door. But when he heard what she had to say, he knew he had to do more.
Compassionate Man
What Amanda thought was a sigh of indifference was actually a sigh of compassion. He wrote down Kelly’s details in order to help her situation and to find a landscaper who could assist her on compassionate means.
And then, when he saw the car run the red light, he suddenly got an idea - to ask for his lawn mower. But what did Kelly think?
The Homeowner
When the homeowner, Ellie Kelly saw the note the officer left on her door and saw the video that Amanda eventually posted to social media, she was incredibly thankful. “He just cut it," Kelly said. "I was like, ‘Wow...,' I started to cry.”
The video of officer Matthew Caradimos soon went viral and his good deed was proudly acknowledged by the entire community and world!
Good Karma
Even the Warwick police reposted the video with the caption; “Oftentimes police work is about giving back to our great community. Last week, one of the officers noticed an overgrown lawn in his beat.”
“After making sure the resident was ok and just in need of some assistance, he found a lawnmower to borrow and took care of the yard!”. What goes around will come around!