Police officer buys car seat for motorist

A Knoxville woman now can travel safely with her son, thanks to the efforts of a University Heights police officer.

University Heights officer Don Strong said he was doing traffic enforcement at about 3 p.m. on Thursday when he noticed what appeared to be a small child bouncing in the back of a passenger vehicle. Concerned for the child's wellbeing, Strong pulled the car over and found the boy, who he estimated to be about 3 years old, to be completely unrestrained.

Strong said the boy's mother, Roanna Weldon, reported that she, the boy and the boy's grandmother had an 80-mile drive back to Knoxville but had no car seat to secure the boy. Strong said he wasn't willing to let the family go without finding them a car seat.

Wanting to get the family back on the road, but not willing to let them go with the child unsecured, Strong drove the boy and grandmother to the Iowa City Walmart and the mother followed. Inside, the family found a car seat but said they had no way to pay for it.

"So, I paid for it," Strong said. He said the car seat set him back $60, "a small price to pay for the child's safety."

He said this was his first time buying a car seat for a stranger, but he doesn't expect to get paid back. "I try to help out whenever possible," he said.