ELKHART COUNTY — The easiest way to calm a kid down may be candy and a movie. For an autistic Elkhart County teen, he’d rather run with police. A sheriff’s deputy took the young man under his wing, after a 911 call earlier this year ended in a jog. Seven runs later, Lt. Casey Lehman and Jack (name changed for privacy reasons) are keeping pace.

“When did the snow ever stop us from running?” asked Lehman, an Elkhart County Sheriff’s deputy.

On Thursday evening, April 7, the two men picked up where they left off last week.

“It’s helpful for him to have an officer he can relate to and have somebody he knows he can be comfortable with,” Lehman added.

Sometimes, the teen with the arresting laugh becomes angry and breaks things.

“It’s a challenge every single day,” said Jack’s mom.

She and her husband have called police for back-up several times since Jack and Lehman first met in February. Nonetheless, she said she notices a difference in her son after he runs.

“I think they help focus him on positive and other ways to express himself, when he’s upset,” she said.

On top of that, police pacify the teen when his parents call them during anger episodes. “He always likes them. He’s always been polite to them,” said Mom.

The respect remains the same, even when he and Lehman step up to the starting line of their race-ending runs.
“You’re gonna beat me aren’t ya?” quipped the cop.

Just answering the call of duty?

“I think he goes above and beyond and that a lot of officers in our area go above and beyond,” said Jack’s mother. “They’re here to serve and protect us, and we should all appreciate them.”

Lt. Lehman intends to continue running with Jack until he coaches a youth soccer team in the coming weeks. After the season ends, they likely will resume their regimen.

Source: WNDU