It’s not every day we see a grown man sit down to a little girl’s tea party, much less an on duty police officer. But that’s exactly what happened this week when Texas cop Patrick Ray sat down with 2 year old Bexley Norvell, whose life he saved one year ago, for a cup of tea. At the time she was choking on a coin at her home in Rowlett, Texas. “Her lips were completely blue,” said her mother, Tammy. She called 911, and Ray was there within minutes. He was able to pry Bexley’s mouth open to perform a “finger sweep”, manually digging out the coin out of her throat.
The girl’s mother was adamant about finding a way to thank the life saving police officer, and throwing him a celebratory tea party seemed the perfect answer. A photographer, Chelle Cates, was hired to document the unlikely event. “He picked up that tiny little chair and sat down,” she said, “I didn’t give him a lot of direction.” The two unlikely friends shared Apple Jacks and Oreos. “He just talked to her and asked her how her Oreos were”.