6-Year-Old Battling Leukemia Gets To Be Police Officer For A Day
SIGNAL HILL (CBSLA.com) — A 6-year-old boy battling leukemia got to be an honorary Signal Hill police officer Saturday.
CBS2's Joy Benedict reports that when little Alan's day as a junior police officer was nearly done, he got to also ride in a fire truck.
The wishes, of course, were granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The plucky 6-year-old has been fighting leukemia half his life.
Saturday, plucky turned lucky.
Alan Nguyen, a Bellflower boy, didn't just sit behind a desk or go on a donut run.
He also got to fight crime! He got his own custom-made police uniform and a badge.
Alan and his assigned partner were dispatched to a nearby Target store where someone reportedly swiped three Power Rangers toys!
Benedict reports Alan and his partner patrolled the store, watched surveillance video and took fingerprints.
Alan told Benedict he knew exactly what had to be done.
"Catch the bad guy," he said.
He and his partner did just that when they spotted "the perp" walking near the Target store. Benedict reported, "The bad guy was busted and the toys were recovered."
Not-too-surprisingly, Target was happy to receive the "stolen" goods and let Alan keep them.
Alan has to go through chemo treatments once a month.
His father told Benedict a day like today is great for taking everyone's minds off Alan's illness.
Make-A-Wish grants a child's wish every 38 minutes somewhere in the country.
The Los Angeles chapter, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013, has granted more than 8,300 wishes to local kids between the ages of 2 and 1/2 and 18.
