In December 2000, three days before Christmas, Gene Eyster received an unexpected call while on duty.
Three students had phoned thepoliceto inform them about a distressing sight they had witnessed in the hallway of their apartment complex in South Bend, Indiana.
In December 2000, Gene Eysterwas calledafter three students discovered a newborn child in the hallway of their apartmentcomplex
Image credits:CBS News
“I went back with a teddy bear. Just a symbol to let everyone that walked past know that he was cared about,” he told the network.
The boy was then taken to child protective services, leaving Eyster with no information about the child’s fate.
24 years later, the police veteran received another surprising phone call—this time, it carried a more comforting message.
“I remember it distinctively,” he said.
“Well, you’re not going to believe this,” the officer responded. “He’s sitting next to me; he’s my rookie.”
“It was a blessing,” Hegedus-Stewart said of the moment he was able to meet the man who saved him all those years ago. “I wondered my whole life, ‘Who found me?'”
“The timing couldn’t have been any better. It helped to fill a void,” said the 47-year veteran of the department
The “full circle moment,” as Hegedus-Stewart described it, came at a delicate time in Eyster’s life. Just months before the reunion, the retired officer experienced the unexpected loss of his only son at the age of 36.
“So the timing couldn’t have been any better. It helped to fill a void that I’ve had to deal with,” he explained.
“That gave me goosebumps,” a social media user shared
Renan Duarte
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