Mikayla Edwards of the Lynn Haven Police Department in Florida bought a stranded family dinner when their car broke down in Taco Bell. (Photo: Courtesy of Mikayla Edwards)

A police officer bought three hungry children dinner when their mom’s car broke down in a Taco Bell drive-thru line.

One evening in late May, Officer Mikayla Edwards of the Lynn Haven Police Department in Florida was cutting through a Taco Bell parking lot, when she saw a mother and her two sons, 1, 5, and a preteen daughter standing in the restaurant’s drive-through lane, among a heavy line of cars.

“They were just standing outside their car,” Edwards, who has been an officer for only six months, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “The kids were upset because it was a hot morning and lots of bugs were swarming.”

Edwards pulled over and asked if the family needed help, and two male customers outside offered to push the car into a parking spot.

“She was very happy, as she was clearly having a bad night,” Edwards tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

When one of the men wanted to buy her children Gatorade, the mother replied, “That’s the problem. I can only afford to buy one kid dinner.”

Edwards, a mother-of-two herself, told the woman she would be “right back.” She went inside the restaurant and placed a big “filling” order for tacos and cinnamon sticks.

“I wasn’t sure if her kids were allowed to drink soda, so I paid for four drinks and took the empty cups outside,” Edwards tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I gave her the receipt and said her order was coming up. She was so grateful.”

While their mother picked up dinner, Edwards invited the children into her squad car where they flashed lights, played the siren, and played the radio. “The mother said her middle child wanted to be a police officer, so it was awesome for him,” says Edwards. “He loved my handcuffs.”

The mother didn’t share her name and declined more help with her car. “Everyone has been through something,” says Edwards. “She was just having a hard night.”

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