Cops and Kids hits Pineville Walmart for some cheer

PINEVILLE — Three-year-old Chloe sat in a shopping cart Monday evening at Wal-Mart, nestled between the toys she picked out — a Hello Kitty doll and a Monster High doll.

Officer Kim Mixon leaned in, tapped the Hello Kitty doll and asked the girl if she was going to sleep with it that night. Chloe just nodded her head.

Chloe was one of 12 children selected to go shopping for Christmas toys at the store with members of the Pineville Police Department and Red River Lodge #36 through the Fraternal Order of Police's Cops and Kids program.

"Each one of y'all have up to $50 that you can spend," the kids were told. One girl's jaw dropped.

The kids paired up with the officers in the entrance to the store's grocery section and then took off with shopping carts. As the line of kids and cops progressed, other shoppers stopped and stared. Most of them grinned.

Officer Katie Norris, who's just been with the department a few weeks, pushed a cart while a boy rode on it. "Is this a boy aisle?" she asked as she pushed the cart. The 12-year-old spotted some remote-control cars, but then saw dirt bikes farther down and yelled.

"We can't afford a dirt bike!" Norris exclaimed.

So the boy started eyeing the many cars and Nerf guns on the aisle. Not far away, Patrolman First Class Michael Daenen armed himself with a plastic sword while Edric Smith, also a patrolman first class, grabbed a Star Wars lightsaber. As the two boys they were with laughed, the officers dueled in the aisle.

Meanwhile, Officer Paul Riccardi, the father of two boys, was struggling to learn about dolls for girls. His charge already had one doll in her cart, but was eyeing more.

"Oooooh, turn back around!" she cried. "I think I see Elsa."

One by one, the kids picked what they wanted and walked up to register 23, where they all checked out.

"Momma!" yelled one girl with a smile on her face as she held up a pair of headphones decorated in pastels and penguins.

As one boy checked out, his bag contained a package of Oreo cookies. Officer Blake Fuselier noticed.

"I need to check and make sure they're good. What if you get a bad Oreo?" he tried. The boy shook his head as two other boys stood nearby, laughing.

After the group gathered back in the store's entrance, each child was handed a wrapped gift that they were told not to open until Christmas morning.