BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- A simple photo posted to the famous Bangor Police Department Facebook page made a huge impact on thousands of people in just hours Monday.
The photo was of 4-year-old Blake Bragg grinning ear to ear while sitting in the front seat of a police cruiser.
Lt. Tim Cotton, who runs the department's Facebook page, wrote in part:
"Officer John Hermanson and Officer Dustin Dow were parked alongside one another after a call for service when this boy wanted to look inside a police car. Most all of us who have the honor to do this job remember our first look inside as well.
No impromptu cruiser tour (ICT) can be complete without a mandatory lighting of the blues, possibly a quick blip of the siren.
The young boy thinks it was the best thing that happened to him all day. What he might never know is that the feeling is mutual."
NEWS CENTER Maine caught up with the little boy Tuesday. He and his father Justin Bragg were overwhelmed with excitement.
"It’s a sound that goes beep beep beep,” Blake Bragg said as he explained getting to play with the lights and siren in the car.
Blake even got his own sticker badge from the officers.
“He has not stopped talking about it all day how he's a police officer and everything,” Justin Bragg said.
Bragg, a single father, said he and his son went up to the cruiser that was parked in a lot near their home on Union Street Sunday night. He said he just expected a quick ‘hello,’ and was amazed that the officers took it even further.
"I would like to thank the boy's dad, Officer Hermanson, and Officer Dow for taking the perfect photograph of a moment in time when one boy's smile muted all the negative of a day," Cotton wrote in the Facebook post.
Bragg said his phone was ringing throughout the day with friends and family calling to talk about Blake’s newfound fame.
"I think that's the greatest part is that it meant as much to them as it did to Blake," he said.
When asked what he wanted to be when he grows up, Blake said he plans to be a teacher or a police officer.
“They put the bad guys in jail,” he said