Police officer ‘rescues’ toy dinosaur and takes it on epic adventure before returning to little girl

The photos are so sweet!

Losing a special toy can be devastating for a child. When 10-year-old Evie Hendricks’ beloved dragon and dinosaur toys were stolen right from her own front yard, she was understandably upset.

Evie’s parents, Emily and Jason Hendricks, happened to have a security camera that caught the thief making off with the toys. That’s when Jason decided to post the footage to Facebook, saying he hoped that whoever took the toys would return them.

“I sure hope that this person thought the toys needed a little adventure and will be returning them soon and I hope these dinos and dragons find their way back to their rightful owner,” he wrote.

A helpful friend saw Hendricks’ post and tagged another friend, local police officer Sgt. Robert Bagley, to see if he might be able to offer some assistance. From the video, Bagley recognized the suspect and decided to investigate. When he drove by the area where he had previously seen the suspected thief, he noticed the toy dragon on the ground with a broken arm.

Although Bagley wanted to get the toy back to its rightful owner as soon as possible, it was late at night, and he determined it would be better to wait until morning. That’s when he had the clever idea to take the dragon on the “adventure” Evie’s dad mentioned and document the whole thing on Facebook.

Because the dragon had an injury, the first stop was The Charles Regional Medical Center, where the dragon received top-notch care.

Once his arm was fixed up, he hit the gym to get it back in shape.

The dragon even got to do some police work.

“After a while, I realized what a great ride-along partner he would make, so I deputized him as a Junior La Plata Police Officer,” wrote Bagley in his post.

And he even got to enjoy a doughnut with Officer Bagley.

After his busy night, the dragon was reunited with Evie the following morning. The girl and her parents were so grateful for Bagley’s good deed.

“There is so much negative press about the police,” Emily told Babble. “And I wish that more people could see that there is a friendly side to officers.”