License and registration? Ohio police officer ‘writes’ toddler a ticket in viral photo

XENIA, Ohio — One-year-old Braydon Miller was cruising the sidewalk in his new model Chevrolet Silverado at his home in southwest Ohio last Friday when he encountered Officer Brian Blackaby of the Xenia Police Department.

Blackaby, a seven-year veteran of the department, was on patrol in the neighborhood, and Braydon’s father, Brian Miller, decided to ask the officer if he would pose for a picture with his son.

Blackaby obliged by turning on the police lights in his cruiser, placing Braydon and his Silverado in front of it, and pulling out his ticket book.

The resulting image, posted on the department’s Facebook page, had received more than 1,400 reactions and was shared nearly 1,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon.

“He looked concerned at me,” Blackaby recalled with a chuckle. “His dad kind of positioned his car in front of mine, and he was just like, ‘What’s all this about?’”

Blackaby said the response to the photo caught him by surprise. “It was a lot more than I was expecting,” he said.

“The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive,” added Capt. Steve Lane of the Xenia Police Division. “In my estimation, it drives home the point that the vast majority of interactions with law enforcement tend to be very positive.”

One of the comments on the photo came from the toddler’s grandmother, Jaime Quirk: “We really appreciate this kind officer having a little fun with our grandson. We respect what officers do in their community and realize they have a tough and dangerous job. So it’s good to see them having a little fun once in a while.”

Brian Miller told WHIO-TV that his son looked at Blackaby and his ticket book in amazement.

“He was a really nice officer,” Miller said. “I thought it was really awesome he did that. It’s great, especially with all the news and the bad rap police get.”

Lane echoed those thoughts, adding that interactions like this one are far more common than many people realize.

“The reality is, this could have been any police officer in any town across the country,” Lane said. “It’s going on every day. We’re pleased that it brings that positive spotlight to Xenia, but there are so many other examples of it across the country.”