DENVER — A wholesome moment between a Denver police officer and a third-grade boy was caught on camera over the weekend.
The video shows the pair going at it in a break dance battle on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.
DPD Officer Thanaret Phuvapaisalkij, known to most as “PJ,” says it’s normal for kids to come up to the motorcycles and ask for a picture. What happened over the weekend is not normal, but it’s something PJ is so happy he got to experience.
He said he was approached by a boy named Jayden Marquez.
“He came up and he said he wanted to take a picture in front of the motorcycle. I didn’t know what he was going to do,” PJ said. “He did that freeze and I was like, he dances a little bit.”
Little did Jayden know, PJ had moves of his own.
“I’m shocked,” Jayden said when talking about the dance-off. “When I heard I was going to be on the news, I was about to cry tears of joy.”
The story was first posted by Jayden’s mom and has been shared tens of thousands of times.
“We see a lot of negative things out there in the media about police and all kinds of shootings, so this is something that makes you smile,” Jayden’s mom Vanessa Marquez said.
“There’s a lot of things that cops do out there, and it’s nice to see a cop break dance with a kid,” Jayden said.
“I enjoy sharing my art with the community, so just to be able to do that with him was great, it was awesome,” PJ said.
PJ dances in his free time and started a while ago. Jayden just picked it up about a year ago and enjoys learning new moves.