Police Officer Comforts One-Month-Old Whose Parents Overdosed

A touching photo of an Alabama police officer comforting a one-month-old after her parents overdosed on drugs is capturing the hearts of many on the Internet.

Birmingham South Precinct police officers responded to the scene only to find the mother and father of four young children unresponsive because of an overdose of drugs, according to AL.com.

Police found the 30-year-old father dead on the kitchen floor while the 35-year-old mother remained alive but unresponsive. Paramedics were able to give the mother a dose of Narcan, an opioid antidote, and took her to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition, FOX 5 Atlanta reports.

The children, ages seven, three, two, and one-month, were alone and frightened because of the incident.

One of the officers, Michelle Burton, took it upon herself to care for the children before they could be transferred to Child Protective Services, according to the Washington Post. Burton took the children back to the precinct, where she removed her vest and gear so she could cradle the baby and give her a bottle.

As the baby fell asleep on Burton’s shoulder, a coworker snapped a photo of her holding the sleeping child, according to the Post.

Burton stayed up all night comforting the children and did not go home until 4 a.m.  The photo went viral the next morning after her husband, who is also in law enforcement, posted the photo on Facebook.

“Last night, my wife Michelle Burton told me she would be late getting off work because of call she was on where the parents of 4 small children had both overdosed,” Brian Burton wrote in his post. “She spent the rest of the night taking care of these babies. She got home at 4 this morning. I’ve never seen her more beautiful than in this picture. What an incredible woman.”

The photo has been shared more than 1,700 times, and has made Officer Burton a local celebrity in Birmingham.

“I’m overwhelmed about the whole thing,” Burton said to the Post. “I don’t want people to think that it’s only me that does this. We all do things like this. … It was one of those nights where everybody worked together and everybody did what they needed to do.”