TN’s Dickson helps Dickson, Pa. boy get new bike

By Chris Gadd

The Dickson Herald

The story started off simply, and sad: A boy’s new bicycle was stolen in the Main Street area of Dickson.

A few days later, Cameron, age 5, who lives in Dickson City, Pa. will be receiving a new bike courtesy of an anonymous donor and diligent police in the City of Dickson nearly 900 miles away in Middle Tennessee.

The bike was stolen sometime Aug. 26-27. The boy’s aunt, Krystina Mecca, of Dickson City, Pa., sent a message to the local Dickson Police Department’s Facebook account by mistake seeking help with relocating the bike.

“(Cameron) said, ‘Aunt Krystina, I’ve never had such as good bike. This is my favorite bike,’” Mecca said. “He said, ‘Aunt Krystina, we should call the cops. He said, “Please call the cops because stealing is wrong.’”

Detective Chad Fussell, of Dickson, Tenn., got back with her quickly through Facebook. No phone calls were made – so no distinguishing Northeast and Southern accents could be heard.

But the Southern hospitality was noticed.

“He’s seriously the nicest police officer ever,” said Mecca.

Fussell, after their online discussion and still unaware she was contacting him from Pennsylvania, posted on the department’s Facebook page a photo of the stolen bike and asked for information relocating it.

An anonymous donor, after seeing the Facebook post, brought a brand new bike to the Dickson Police Department in Tennessee.

Fussell posted the good news on Facebook, writing that the donor was “the reason we love this town. You embody the spirit that is Dickson County. Let's all learn from this act of kindness and pay it forward to someone today.”

However, Mecca and Fussell were still not aware of the cross-country mix-up.

“I didn’t realize it until he wrote ‘You can come pick up the bike, and I went to (Pennsylvania) police station, which happens to be on Main Street also,” Mecca said. “The officer there…looked at me like I was nuts. He said, ‘Wait a minute. Did you contact Dickson City, Tenn. by accident?’”

“I said, ‘Oh no. I think I did,’” she added.

Mecca contacted Fussell and told him “not to worry about” after realizing the mistake.

“But that is not how we are in Dickson,” said Fussell, who noted that this isn’t the first time people have contacted the Dickson Police Department in the Midstate while trying to reach Dickson City police in Pennsylvania.

“When we set out to do something, we finish it,” Fussell added.

Walmart is working with the local police on accepting the returned bike and providing Mecca with a bike from the Walmart in her area.

“(Cameron) is going to be ecstatic when I tell him about it,” Mecca said.