4-year-old hugs Griffin police officer after mom tells her officers are her 'friends'

GRIFFIN, Ga. - A Griffin mom shared a sweet moment online after her daughter made friends with an officer, and now it's been liked and shared hundreds of times.

The four-year-old loves police officers, so she ran up to this officer and gave him a huge hug. Four-year -old Kamiya Baker and her mom were in the checkout line at a Food Depot in Griffin when Kamiya went running. When her mom looked up, she caught the heartwarming sight of her little girl giving a police officer a hug.

"I see this little girl come walking up, and I thought she was walking by me to go to the bathroom, then I felt a tug on my leg," said Officer Matthew Rhodes, of the Griffin Police Department.

The girl's mom, Wakesha Baker, said the moment made her smile. "I saw her hugging his leg, and everybody kind of looked at me, and I was like, "It's okay! She loves police officers," said Baker.

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For little Kamiya, she said she just wanted to say hello to her friend. After the hug, Officer Rhodes was so touched, he asked the girl's mom if he could give her a gift from his car:

"He gave me this unicorn and this bear," said Kamiya.

"It's very rare for a little girl to just walk up to you and give you a hug, and her eyes lit up when she got the stuffed animals, and I couldn't ask for a better night," said Rhodes.

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Kamiya's mom snapped a photo of the two that's been shared all over social media. She said she hopes this will be a lesson to families to talk with their children about how important police officers are to the community.

"It was very reassuring to her that police are here to help," said Baker.

"I do enjoy what I do, and I'm glad I get to wake up every day and put on my uniform and help put a smile on people's faces," said Officer Rhodes.

Officer Rhodes said he hopes this encounter will encourage more families to come up to him and start fostering relationships with law enforcement in the area.