On Monday, Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Zach Ropos stopped by the young girl's lemonade stand while on patrol in Painesville, Ohio, about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.
"I see a little girl come running up to my police car," Ropos, 22, told ABC News today. "She hands me a glass, I hand her a few bucks. I asked her what she wanted to do with the money ... she said she'd get an iPad, to help with school and play games."
Ropos said he told the girl's mother he had an old iPad at home he could bring them the next day.
"I went home that night, fired up the iPad, but nothing really worked on it," Ropos explained.
The next day, Ropos found a store that agreed to contribute to the cost of a tablet with him. Later Tuesday, Ropos met up with Gabrielle and her mother, "I asked her how much she saved up, and she said she only had a few dollars."
Gabrielle explained to Ropos that her mother's car ran out of gas, so the child gave up her hard-earned money to fill the tank.
"When she told me she gave the money to her mom ... that's when I almost started crying because of how great of a kid she really was," Ropos said.
"Seeing her face is how I remember Christmas when I was 5 years old. She couldn't stop smiling," Ropos said. "Her smile was worth a million dollars."
Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap, told ABC News that he always tells graduating classes, "If you pass a kid's lemonade stand, buy a lemonade. You don't have to drink it. If you see an old person's garden, acknowledge it. There's plenty of chances in police work to be kind. [Ropos] took it the extra step."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/officer-surprises-year-ipad-smile-worth-million-dollars/story?id=32019219
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