Video of North Carolina Cop’s Heartwarming Encounter With Autistic Teen Goes Viral

Video of a North Carolina cop’s heartwarming encounter with an autistic teen has gone viral.

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A North Carolina police officer has gone viral after calmly diffusing a situation involving an autistic high school student. Officer Tim Purdy was dispatched to the scene after being informed the student had left campus, with his family worried he may have been suicidal.

"In order to build a connection with the young man, Officer Purdy sat next to him on the ground, talked things through and even got him laughing," the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wrote when posting the photo to Facebook last Friday. In the days since sharing the heartwarming image, the post has been liked nearly 800,000 times.

Read the department's full statement below:

Officer Tim Purdy was dispatched to a situation involving a young autistic high school student who left the campus and may have been suicidal. Due to the young man’s neuro-developmental disorder, he also had a history of displaying violent behavior. In order to build a connection with the young man, Officer Purdy sat next to him on the ground, talked things through and even got him laughing. 

Officer Purdy opened up about the encounter in a clip posted to Facebook Tuesday, insisting his calm manner of earning the young man's trust and helping him return to his family was simply part of the job. "As I got out of the car, I was just thinking to myself 'What're you going to do? How are you going to handle that?'" Purdy explained. "The individual sat down and so I just decided, hey, let's try to talk."

Purdy is glad the viral story has given a platform to those who struggle with autism. "It's just a great opportunity to showcase autism also because there are so many people out there that struggle with it," Purdy said. "Not only do they struggle with it, but their family members struggle with it."

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According to a survey published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November 2015, as many as 1 in 45 children ages 3 through 17 have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. "This means that 2 percent of children in the U.S. are living with autism," Michael Rosanoff, director of public health research for Autism Speaks, said in November. "The earlier they have access to care, services, and treatment, the more likely they are to progress."

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