Charlottesville police go viral playing street basketball with kids

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A video of Charlottesville police officers playing street basketball with some kids has gone viral and is now being watched by people all around the world.

The video has 30 million views and counting.

“It’s good to show them the good side of policing and how to build better relationships within the community,” CPD Officer Michael Darby said.

Darby is one of the officers in the video.

Darby says he was driving by, saw the kids outside and staring chatting.

One thing lead to another, a three-on-three game between the officers and kids.

“It was fun, for sure,” Deyard Milligan said.

Milligan is one of the kids from the video. He says the three-on-three game was no gimme’.

“Me and my friends was just running like a little 2v2 game thing, and then the cops just randomly pulled up,” Milligan said.

What started as a casual conversation turned into a bigger lesson on fostering shared experiences.

“If I could take all this off and come out here and make these relationships every day, I would,” CPD Officer Ryan Lowry said.

Charlottesville police say their ultimate mission is to connect with their community on all levels.

“I think it’s really important. I think just showing kids, especially just because with the news and everything, it’s not always good, you know. I just share with people that we’re people just like them,” CPD Officer Sydney Love-Baker said.

Love-Baker says she and other officers expect to play and engage with people like this again soon.

“I think it’s important for kids, especially since a lot of kids don’t have a lot of contact with police officers,” Darby said.

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