Monday, July 14, 2025
68.0°F

Child’s hug lifts spirit of Ponderay officer

KEITH KINNAIRD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years AGO
by KEITH KINNAIRD
News Editor | June 17, 2020 1:00 AM

PONDERAY — A Ponderay Police officer said his spirits were lifted sharply thanks to a chance encounter with a youngster at a local store.

Sergeant Mike Victorino admits he wasn’t in the greatest place due to nationwide rancor and turmoil over policing in the United States and existential threats to the institution he had come to love.

“Let’s face it, the negatives definitely outweigh the positives in this career I have chosen and every day retirement looks a little better,” Victorino said in a candid post to the Ponderay Police Department’s Facebook page.

However, he did not lose sight of the glimmers of what makes the job worthwhile — ending cycles of sexual and domestic abuse or returning a lost dog to a forlorn child.

Victorino admitted he was a bit downtrodden after watching another weekend of the country tearing itself apart.

“Then I met Elsa,” said Victorino.

Elsa was with her parents at the Walmart Vision Center.

“She saw me standing there and kept motioning toward me to her dad. He put her down and she ran, arms raised, across the clinic to where I was standing. I leaned over and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug … and wouldn’t let go,” Victorino wrote.

Victorino allows that he became a bit emotional.

“For in that tiny moment, the entire world melted away. There was no crime, no police, no riots, no politics and no pain.

“There was only the unconditional love of a two-year-old being shared with a complete stranger … and that is what world needs most,” Victorino wrote.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.

ARTICLES BY KEITH KINNAIRD

March 7, 2010 11 p.m.

Revett seeks clarity on Rock Creek mine status

A status conference is pending in federal court to determine if developers of the proposed Rock Creek mine can initiate development of the project.

December 31, 2008 11 p.m.

Former pastor imprisoned for touching young girl

SANDPOINT, Idaho — A district judge declined to go along with a plea agreement which proposed a limited jail sentence for a former pastor who pleaded guilty to fondling a Priest Lake girl several years ago.

Judge orders life sentence in Bristow murder
April 21, 2021 1 a.m.

Judge orders life sentence in Bristow murder

Acosta ordered to serve life in prison for Bristow killing