KPD Officer Mows Lawn for Elderly Woman in Need

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Betty Brown isn’t able to mow her yard now that she’s nearing 80, but a heaven-sent officer took the task off her hands.

Ms. Betty usually has a family friend or a neighborhood kid cut her grass, but after her lawn mower was stolen by someone who said they would do they job and then split, she had some trouble finding someone to help.

However, when officer Garrett Fontanez was driving through Ms. Betty’s Knoxville neighborhood responding to a noise complaint, she flagged him down to ask if he knew of anyone who would be willing to cut her grass.

Without skipping a beat, Officer Fontanez said “I can do that for you.”

The next day, on Officer Fontanez’s day off, he mowed Ms. Betty’s lawn– free of charge.

Ms. Betty knows that what happened to her was truly God-sent.

“you don’t find much of that anymore not anymore. People will laugh, they’ll walk on, they’ll why don’t you? But not I will. I’ll assist you so I thought that was very very well done on him,” Ms. Betty explained.

Knoxville Police Department’s PIO Darrell Debusk received a tip that Officer Fontanez was doing this act of kindness in a nearby neighborhood and decided to drive by to take a video.

The Knoxville Police Department then decided to make a post about the officer mowing the lawn, and the response on social media was astounding.

Chief David Rausch with KPD says that acts of kindness like this are what the department prides themselves on.

“It’s pleasing but not uncommon and it’s expected. I do expect our folks to show human and humane treatment for our residents. We’ve got a lot of officers similar to Garrett who work in our department. We are fortunate to have that and we encourage it,” Rausch explained.

Garrett’s act of service isn’t the only one that has happened across the United States, and Chief Rausch wanted to make that known.

“The reality is what Garrett did is what officers do throughout this country. We have a heart for service. Why we get into this profession in the first place,” Rausch remarked.

But to Ms. Betty, she feels that the big man upstairs was watching over and sent an earthly man… in blue.