FORTVILLE — The Fortville Police Department has a brand-new police office on the force.
Chief William Knauer swore in 5-year-old Lizzie Crouch on Monday afternoon as an honorary officer, which included her very own police uniform, badge and a ride in a police vehicle, complete with lights and a wailing siren.
Lizzie has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital birth condition where the left side of the heart does not develop properly, leading to complications. The defect necessitates surgery after birth in most cases and constant medication to ensure blood flows through the heart properly.
Because of her condition, Lizzie was recently at the Make-A-Wish gala in Indianapolis where she met Fortville Police Department Officer Charlie Kingery, who was working security at the event. According to Lizzie’s mom, Wendy Crouch, Lizzie and Kingery hit it off and ended up playing together for about an hour. A couple days later, Lizzie kept asking her mom when she could see “Officer Charlie” again. She mentioned that Lizzie and her two younger sisters have been playing police officer for weeks after the Make-A-Wish gala.
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“She told me she was going to call 911 and ask for Officer Charlie,” Wendy Crouch said. “So I decided to see if I could find an email address instead.”
She contacted Kingery and he helped set up an event for Lizzie at the Fortville Police Department.
“It’s honestly overwhelming,” Wendy Crouch said. “We cherish her and to see there’s other people, people who don’t even really know her, who cherish her as well. It’s amazing.”
Knauer said the event went to show the character of Kingery, who has been on the force since 2016, and all of the officers with the Fortville department.
“It says a lot about what kind of person he is,” Knauer said. “But all of my officers are like that. They care about this community and want to do whatever they can to help the people here.”
Knauer said over the years Fortville officers have helped out with Christmas presents, replacing stolen bikes and developing relationships with many different members of the community.
Lizzie didn’t say much during the event, a surprise to her parents who said she’s usually very talkative, but her smile when she received her uniform and got to climb into Kingery’s vehicle told the whole story.
