LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — What would you do if someone stole something from you? Most people's first thought would be to call the police, right?
Well, that's exactly what one Mayflower mom did after someone stole her 5-year-old son Wyatt's baseball.
Wyatt has always been a big fan of baseball, but someone did the unthinkable to him on Wednesday— rather than stealing a base, they took his baseball!
"I want... I want my ball back," Wyatt said.
Wyatt and his mom Victoria went looking for the missing ball of course, but couldn't find any trace of it.
"We looked everywhere. We couldn't find it and he said 'it was a thief, it was a thief, call 911!" And I was like, 911? Oh my, but he didn't give up,'" Victoria said.
So she did what any parent would do for their child— she called the police.
"You could tell that he wanted some immediate, he said, 'I want those thieves, baseball thieves, stealers, in jail,'" she explained.
Detective Taylor Decker with the Mayflower Police Department responded to the special call for help.
Decker is a criminal investigator with a lot on his plate, but sometimes there are more important matters— like Wyatt's baseball.
"Anytime there's an opportunity to do something like this, I'll do it," Decker said.
He treated the situation like he would any robbery. Decker wrote up a report and took down Wyatt's information.
"Cause he was like, 'my ball is white with red on it. He said 'wow, you're a great witness!'," Victoria added.
Decker even took the time to make a wanted poster for whoever did this.
"Like I said, an opportunity to impact a kid's life like that, at that age, that's easy. Never be turned down. However, it can be done, it will be done," he explained.
So Decker went in for the home run and decided to give a special gift to Wyatt— two new baseballs to make up for the one taken from him.
"Can you believe that? Yeah, now I'm gonna throw these things at the thief, hahaha," Wyatt said with a smile.
They say there's no crying in baseball, and there was certainly no crying with an ace like Decker around.
"Now you can play what? Baseball! Yeah, whoa, that's so awesome," Victoria enthused with her son.
"Thanks! I just got a new one," Wyatt added.
And if you thought that Detective Decker didn't do this very often, you'd be wrong.
"Just want people to know, want that kid to know, that there's help, you know? There's somebody to call and ask for help," Decker said.
He has a whole bag of toys that he keeps inside his squad car to give to kids whenever he comes across them.
"A lot of people have nobody to call, and I want them to be able to call when he's 18 and needs something, or 15, or 14, and needs help. I want him to call and not be scared," he added.
Not only did Wyatt get some new baseballs to play with— he also made a new friend.
"And I think they will be friends for a while," Victoria said.