A police officer in Arlington, Texas is being praised for his innovative way of teaching a local teenager a lesson. The story gained national attention after a Facebook post showed the teen doing push-ups as the office watched on. “Big UP’s to the Arlington Police Officer that made the young black guy that decided to smoke weed on the movie theater parking lot to do push-ups then take him to jail or shoot him just Cuz. We need more cops like this,” the post reads.
Arlington Police told WFAA that Officer Eric Ball was working off-duty at the Arlington movie theater when he smelled the marijuana. The teen was reportedly respectful and realized he made a mistake. The officer could have arrested the teen but instead offered him the opportunity to do 200 push-ups instead. According to the local report, the officer found the teen’s mom inside the movie theater, and told her what happened. She thanked him and gave him a hug.
“She gave a stern warning to her son and even told the officer, ‘I would have made him do more push-ups,'” Lt. Chris Cook told WFAA. The Facebook post has already been shared thousands of times, and viewed a quarter million times. Many have praised Officer Ball, saying that more cops should take steps like this instead of throwing young teens in jail.