Trooper comforts children after Halloween tragedy

Trooper Bradley said he couldn’t bear to tell the children the news without an older family member there and he didn’t want to ruin their Halloween.

They found out about their parents the next morning when Oliver arrived.

Their mom and dad went to get more face paint for them Halloween night when the accident happened.

On the way back from the store, they lost control of their SUV on a curvy road, about a quarter-mile from their house, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The children were invited to stay the night at the trooper post, which has several bedrooms, and as Bradley was tucking the youngest girl into bed she whispered: ‘You turned an F-Minus day into an A-Plus night!’

Nathan Bradley had come bearing awful news – the children’s parents had just died in a vehicle crash.

The closest relative was their grandmother – eight hours away in Florida.

“The first thing I said was, ‘Hey, let’s go get something to eat, ‘” Bradley said. So not only would they learn they’d lost their parents, but they would also spend Halloween in a county jail. He then treated them to the movies, Halloween candy, and a sleepover at the Monroe State Patrol post.

The couple, D.J. and Crystal Howard, were parents of four children, Bradley told BuzzFeed News.

Bradley wrote he felt sick at the thought of telling the children their parents had died, and then sending them to sit alone while they waited for their grandmother.

All the kindness came from a young state trooper who didn’t want to ruin Halloween for his four new friends. “I’m only 28-years-old, one child and my niece that I have been trying to help take care of, so I don’t too much know what to do”. It was important to me that I would not lie to them.

The GOFundMe page has raised over $150,000 to give to the family in need. “The door hesitantly opened and there behind the locked screen door stood four children in full costume – a 13-year-old Freddy Krueger, 10-year-old daughter of a Dracula, 8-year-old wizard and a 6-year-old that appeared to be a firefighting ninja turtle”, he wrote.

“Our goal was to preserve future holidays as far as Halloween goes”, he told WSBTV.

“I immediately fell ill”, he later wrote on a Gofundme page he created for the family. What a state trooper did for the kids next will restore your faith in humanity.

In a comment on WSB TV’s Facebook posting about the story that drew more than 100 “likes”, one reader wrote of Trooper Bradley, “I know him”. “He kept my grandkids together”, she said.

They will now have to move to Florida to live with their Grandmother.

The Georgia Department of Public Safety thanked Trooper Bradley for being ‘a model of compassion’.

“They keep saying “you have more and more and more” and every time I hear “more” I just want to cry”, she said. Any donation amount will help, but if you are unable to donate I appreciate you taking the time to read and share this message.