New Bedford Police dispatcher, officers chip in to replace 5-year old autistic boy’s lost tablet

The following is a story about a 5-year old who has Autism and lost his tablet. We spoke with his grandmother Susan over the course of a few days and originall were going to make a post to ask if anyone had found the tablet and would do the right thing.

The response of the people of New Bedford was as it always it in stories like this: people offered to help buy him a new tablet. Cynics take note.

Susan didn’t want a new tablet and that is not why she asked us to share her story. She wanted the original tablet because it had personal content of her grandson’s on it.

However, when the New Bedford Police found out about this story, they knew that in all likelihood anyone who found the tablet, kept it. For what it is worth, the New Bedford Police Department do not know that we had been talking to Susan behind the scenes through private messages. They also do not know that we know. They did not make their generosity public.

However, it’s our opinion that no good deed should go unrecognized and in today’s political climate, police officers are heavily criticized because of the immoral, poor decisions of a few officers.

Here is how the story unfolded accorded to Susan’s messages.

Original message: “My grandson is 5-years old and lives on Chestnut St. and he has autism. His dad was taking him to the beach and thinks he left my grandson’s iPad on the roof of car while getting him strapped in car seat and forgot about it. If you found it, ‘grammie’ will give you a reward!

He loves this thing and it’s like a private tutor to him. His dad is devastated and feels awful about it. Please and thank you! It’s in blue case and has no stickers on it.”

Follow-up message 2 days later:

“Hi everyone! I recently had posted that my grandson had lost his tablet. He loves it, and has autism. It’s his way of learning mostly although he is a pro at games.

The comments and responses were awesome! So my daughter-in-law was inquiring with the police to see if anyone returned it. They all pitched in and bought him a new one!!!

He gets it tomorrow. I truly can’t express my appreciation for all you doing that. Praises to the New Bedford Police out of the new South Station, especially thanks to the dispatcher for putting it all together.”-Susan Ruprecht Martin.