Robbie told reporters he wants to be a police officer when he grows up, to keep the streets safe - from people like his father.
When the light went red but the driver turned anyway, officer Robbie Richardson's training kicked in.
Green meant go, yellow meant slow, and red, he was certain, meant stop. But the driver, turning right, just blew on through the light, his crime all but undetected.
Officer Richardson, who spends his free time patrolling the streets of his Boston-area neighborhood, couldn't stand the injustice of it all - especially since the delinquent driver was his dad, and Richardson, a sassy six-year-old who'd left his Little Tikes toy cop cruiser at home, was in the back seat.
So the kindergartner did what any good purveyor of justice would do, family loyalty be damned: he called 911.
After all, he told the Boston Herald, it's written on the side of his toy police car.
When the duo returned home after their trip to the car wash, the elder Richardson went outside. Robbie picked up the phone.
"What's your emergency?" a dispatcher asked the boy.
"Um. . ." Robbie stammered. "Daddy went past a red light."
"Yeah?" the dispatcher answers.
Robbie continued, reporting that his father, Michael Richardson, usually drives a black truck, but today they'd taken his "mummy's car" - and it was brand new.
"Then what happened?" the dispatcher asked.
"And then we just, and we had to go to the car wash and then he went past the red light," Robbie said matter of factly.
"He did?"
"Mhm."
"Is he home right now?" asked the dispatcher. "Can I talk to him?"
Outside, Michael Richardson was tending the grill when his son scampered up and handed him the phone, reported the Herald.
"Somebody just called," Robbie can be heard saying on the 911 audio released by police.
"Hello?" the elder Richardson answers.
"Hi, Quincy Police," the dispatcher chirps.
Robbie's father uttered an immediate: "Oh, no."
As it turns out, the boy had threatened to call the police immediately after his father's traffic transgression. But Richardson waved it off, explaining to his son that there was nothing illegal about what he'd done - he turned right on red, a perfectly acceptable maneuver.
Apparently, the cynic in Robbie wasn't convinced.
"When he says he's gonna do something, he does it," Michael Richardson told 7NEWS in Boston. "He doesn't bluff."
The Quincy Police Department posted the audio from the 911 call to its Facebook page Wednesday. They wrote: "Every day we answer numerous 911 calls. Often times, these calls are from individuals who are in need of immediate assistance. Sometimes, it's a simple misdial. Then there's Robert's 9-1-1 call."
Robbie told reporters he wants to be a police officer when he grows up, to keep the streets safe - from people like his father.
"Everyone follows the rules," the 6-year-old told the Boston Globe. "But not my daddy."
Robbie said next time his father breaks traffic laws, he'll report him to a new authority: the eye doctor.
© 2016 The Washington Post
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Green meant go, yellow meant slow, and red, he was certain, meant stop. But the driver, turning right, just blew on through the light, his crime all but undetected.
Officer Richardson, who spends his free time patrolling the streets of his Boston-area neighborhood, couldn't stand the injustice of it all - especially since the delinquent driver was his dad, and Richardson, a sassy six-year-old who'd left his Little Tikes toy cop cruiser at home, was in the back seat.
So the kindergartner did what any good purveyor of justice would do, family loyalty be damned: he called 911.
After all, he told the Boston Herald, it's written on the side of his toy police car.
When the duo returned home after their trip to the car wash, the elder Richardson went outside. Robbie picked up the phone.
"What's your emergency?" a dispatcher asked the boy.
"Um. . ." Robbie stammered. "Daddy went past a red light."
"Yeah?" the dispatcher answers.
Robbie continued, reporting that his father, Michael Richardson, usually drives a black truck, but today they'd taken his "mummy's car" - and it was brand new.
"Then what happened?" the dispatcher asked.
"And then we just, and we had to go to the car wash and then he went past the red light," Robbie said matter of factly.
"He did?"
"Mhm."
"Is he home right now?" asked the dispatcher. "Can I talk to him?"
Outside, Michael Richardson was tending the grill when his son scampered up and handed him the phone, reported the Herald.
"Somebody just called," Robbie can be heard saying on the 911 audio released by police.
"Hello?" the elder Richardson answers.
"Hi, Quincy Police," the dispatcher chirps.
Robbie's father uttered an immediate: "Oh, no."
As it turns out, the boy had threatened to call the police immediately after his father's traffic transgression. But Richardson waved it off, explaining to his son that there was nothing illegal about what he'd done - he turned right on red, a perfectly acceptable maneuver.
Apparently, the cynic in Robbie wasn't convinced.
"When he says he's gonna do something, he does it," Michael Richardson told 7NEWS in Boston. "He doesn't bluff."
The Quincy Police Department posted the audio from the 911 call to its Facebook page Wednesday. They wrote: "Every day we answer numerous 911 calls. Often times, these calls are from individuals who are in need of immediate assistance. Sometimes, it's a simple misdial. Then there's Robert's 9-1-1 call."
Robbie told reporters he wants to be a police officer when he grows up, to keep the streets safe - from people like his father.
"Everyone follows the rules," the 6-year-old told the Boston Globe. "But not my daddy."
Robbie said next time his father breaks traffic laws, he'll report him to a new authority: the eye doctor.
© 2016 The Washington Post
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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