Motorists in West Virginia were confused on Monday when State Troopers pulled them over for seemingly no reason.
Their confusion turned into pleasant surprise, however, when the troopers handed them a $100 bill in a random act of kindness.
The West Virginia State Police Princeton Detachment received a generous sum of $1,000 for the Secret Santa project from an anonymous donor.
"A gentleman came in earlier today and he asked if I had heard about the Secret Santa stuff that's been going on across the nation," First Sergeant M.R. Crowder told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
"He said basically, he'd seen where some traffic stops had been occurring with law enforcement officers and they'd been giving away money from a Secret Santa.
"He said he wasn't rich, but he did have a little bit of money that he would like to give back into the community," Crowder continued.
"It's excellent. I tell ya, I about got emotional on him when he was standing here... when he gave it to me. I told him it's probably one of the kindest things I've seen in my 20 years in being in law enforcement."
"It's actually a privilege today to give out $100 bills because when people deal with law enforcement, it's not always happy smiles, it's usually in a negative way," Trooper D.C. Graham admitted. "So it's good to be able to provide some joy instead of negativity to these people."
The holiday spirit also spread to officers in New Mexico, who helped a young shoplifting father instead of arresting him last week.
A 23-year-old was spotted stealing formula at Albertson's in Roswell, but officers called to the scene felt they couldn't arrest the young father in good conscience.
"Everybody just kind of had that look on their face like, 'We got to do something here,'" Officer Joe Mason told KOB Eyewitness News 4. "I mean, it wasn't like he was shoplifting liquor, he didn't have any criminal intent. He wanted to feed his kid."
"We went and talked to the store; they said they would agree not to press charges," Mason said.
The officers bought $80 worth of formula for the desperate dad, and Albertson's also donated formula. The responding officers are also helping the recently unemployed man find a job.
"He was very appreciative; he told me he would never look at cops the same way again," Mason said.
