When Police Pulled Up Behind This Teenager, They Soon Discovered Why He Was Walking In The Dark
Jourdan Duncan was walking down a secluded industrial road in Benicia, California, when he aroused a police officer’s suspicions. That cop was Kirk Keffer, and he had decided to stop his car and ask the teen a few questions. In doing so, though, Keffer discovered exactly why Duncan was trudging through the darkness.
Duncan comes from Vallejo, California, and in November 2016 he was 18 years old and saving up for college. Furthermore, in order to raise some cash for school, Duncan had taken up a job packing boxes at a health products company.
That business, meanwhile, was based seven miles away from Duncan’s home, in the city of Benicia, CA. So, in order to get to and from his graveyard shift, he relied on his 2001 Volvo. At least, that was the case until summer 2016, when the car broke down.
And without his own means of transportation, Duncan began to rely on colleagues for rides to work. However, he soon started to feel bad about putting other people out. “I didn’t want to burden others by asking for a ride,” Duncan told CNN in 2016.
As a result, the dedicated teen started to walk to and from work. The epic journey took over two hours each way, and it led Duncan through the industrial part of Benicia – the very area where cop Keffer first noticed him.
And the Benicia Police corporal thought it was strange that the young man was out alone in that location after 11:00 p.m. on a September night. “The street that I caught him on is really dark, and there’s no sidewalks. And he was dressed in all black,” Keffer recalled to CNN.
With that in mind, the officer pulled his car over in order to quiz Duncan. And, at this point, the teen grew a little bit worried. “I thought, ‘Okay, um, did I do anything wrong?’” he told The Washington Post in 2017. “‘Is he going to put me in cuffs? I didn’t do anything bad.’”
Consequently, Duncan told Keffer how he was walking home from work. However, when the cop learned that the young man was going all the way to Vallejo, he was stunned. As a result, he offered to take the teen the rest of the way in his patrol vehicle.
Recalling their exchange, Keffer later told CNN, “I said, ‘If you don’t mind, hold on a second.’ I went over to my front seat, cleared it out and asked him if I could give him a ride home. He’s like, ‘You can do that?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’”
On the way home, Duncan told Keffer how he had graduated from high school the previous year and was working to save towards college. However, since his car had broken down, he had also been trying to put money aside for its repair as well as giving some cash to his parents.
The teenager additionally told the cop how he too had an interest in law enforcement. Indeed, Duncan revealed that, alongside going to college, it was his dream to become a highway patrol officer in California.
And Duncan’s drive and determination left Keffer in awe. The idea that the teen would spend five hours of his day walking in order to achieve his dreams was seriously impressive to the cop – so much so, in fact, that he really wanted to reward the teenager.
Speaking to Inside Edition in 2016, Keffer explained, “People use [a long commute] as an obstacle not to work. I wanted to make sure that he understood a good work ethic and dedication like that is going to be noticed and rewarded.”
Therefore, when Keffer returned to the police department later that night, he asked his supervisor whether there was anything they could do to help Duncan. And as both of the cops were board members of the Benicia Police Officers’ Association, they chose to email their colleagues with an idea.
In particular, Keffer and his supervisor suggested that the department buy Duncan a bicycle. And, less than an hour later, the board were in agreement to help the teen. So, later that week, the cop turned up at Duncan’s workplace with a new bike – complete with lights and a helmet.
Certainly the gift would make a real difference to Duncan; by cycling to and from work, he could cut almost two hours off his daily commute. Describing Keffer’s impact, the teen said to Inside Edition, “He helped make my life easier.” Praising the police department in general, he added, “They care about their community, they care about their people and they care to help us.”
However, the cops’ generosity didn’t end there. After Duncan and Keffer’s story was picked up in the national news, the police association launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe. The aim was to raise $5,000 dollars so that Duncan could repair his car.
But after just a few days, the donations had surpassed $10,000. As a result, the association upped their target to $25,000. And since the campaign went live in October 2016, it has attracted donations totaling more than $50,000.
However, despite now having more money than your average 18-year-old could ever dream of, Duncan kept his feet on the ground. He spent $2,900 on a second-hand Volkswagen, for example, and is also using some of the cash to see him through college. In January 2017 he took up a place at Solano Community College, where he decided to major in law enforcement.
But even though he was busy with his studies, Duncan still kept his job at the factory. And with his work ethic, there’s no limit to what the young man might achieve – especially with a cop as his mentor. “He stopped and asked for my opinion, which meant a lot,” Keffer revealed to The Washington Post. “He’s got a bright future ahead of him. I just hope that he continues down this path.”
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