Badge of Honor: Officer, a father of 4, adopts drug-addicted stranger's baby into family
02/08/2018 2:48 pm PST
Albuquerque Police Officer Ryan Holets and his wife Rebecca were guests of the president at the State of the Union address in January 2018.
The New Mexico police officer responded to a call and encountered two people struggling with addictions to heroin. Little did he know that call would not only change his life, but many more as well, forever.
The Holets have opened their home to Crime Watch Daily, sharing details of what happened in the weeks and months after video of Officer Holets on the job went viral all over the world.
For cops across the country, reporting for duty means putting their lives on the line. Decisions made in an instant could have deadly consequences.
What one Albuquerque Police officer saw in September 2017 shook him to his core, and the decision he made in that very moment changed lives forever and touched hearts around the world.
When Albuquerque Police Sergeant Jim Edison heard what his officer was doing, he was moved to tears. The proud sergeant knew he had to find a way to honor Officer Holets. So he wrote a letter nominating him for the department's first-ever Outstanding Service to the Community Award.
When he read the letter to his department… there wasn't a dry eye in the room. His letter eventually reached the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C.
President Trump wanted to meet with Officer Holets to discuss the opioid crisis in America. He also invited the Holets to the State of the Union address, where he told the nation about what they'd done.
Crime Watch Daily's Badge of Honor initiative recognizes law enforcement heroes all over the country, and we have a $5,000 check made out to the Albuquerque Police Foundation in Holets' name.
