A birthday wish was granted by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Thursday.
Wyatt Jensen loves law enforcement and the vehicles they drive. For his 16th birthday, mother Jennifer King wanted to surprise him with a personal visit from a few of his heroes.
“He’s so excited right now,” said King as she followed Wyatt from vehicle to vehicle. “I was trying to prepare him for when they arrived, but I didn’t quite make it. As soon as he saw them pulling into the driveway, he took off out the door. I was still trying to get his shoes and jacket on.”
Pulling in the driveway on Shady Grove Road were four patrol units containing five members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol/ East Bureau Field Operations/ Cookeville District.
“He’s obviously excited to see us,” said Sgt. Kevin Ballew. “This has made our day.”
THP is responsible for enforcing all federal and state laws related to traffic on the state’s federal and state highways.
The granting of birthday wishes isn’t traffic related nor governed by federal or state law. However, an exception was made.
“Mom called and said he really loves law enforcement and sometimes she has to drive him around to see police officers and their vehicles,” said Ballew. “She asked if we could just drop by for a few minutes and show him our patrol units and the lights during his birthday party.”
Wyatt has Down syndrome. His 16th birthday was Dec. 2, but the party was held the following day.
“He is very, very, very into law enforcement vehicles,” said King, who says the lights and sirens on the vehicles excite him the most. “He started saying ‘cop car’ this year. He’s either going to think this is a super special day or he’s going to expect a visit every time he has a birthday. We don’t know how this is going to go yet. This is the first year that he’s acknowledged and been excited about having a birthday.”
King added, “I want to thank you so much for coming out and making his birthday special. He really is excited. When he’s loud like this, he’s extremely excited.”
“We were happy to do it,” said Ballew.
After allowing Wyatt time to examine at the patrol units and entertaining him with the lights, the Tennessee Highway Patrol procession departed with one final gift – a brief sound of the sirens as they pulled down the street.
