LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Just around dinner time Saturday evening, Toni and Rob Lear were out back cleaning their pool when they spotted the first white Indiana State Police cruiser roll up to Linnwood Park in Lafayette's north end.
Then they saw a second police cruiser. Then a third. And a fourth.
But then, she said, a funny thing happened that drew people from all over the neighborhood.
Trooper David Vido laughed the next day, saying he was a bit sore as he started his Sunday shift and surprised to hear that the pickup game was committed to video – much of which was making the rounds and in heavy rotation, thanks to Facebook posts.
Vido said the troopers – Stephen Grayson, Jeremy Piers and Kent Wainscott, all assigned to the state police post north of West Lafayette – had converged on a traffic stop a few blocks away late Saturday afternoon. As the four troopers were comparing notes and getting ready to clear the scene, a group of kids came up on their bikes to check out the action. Vido said the kids asked the troopers a ton of questions, and the troopers showed the equipment on their cars and handed out stickers they carry for kids.
Vido said the troopers and the kids agreed to move the conversation to Linnwood Park, which had the closest hoop.
The four troopers played in full uniform and gear, sticking to a perimeter game full of passing against kids of various ages who were unafraid to shoot whenever or wherever they got the ball.
The troopers lost by a bucket.
"We definitely need a rematch," Vido said.
Kristin Pearl, who lives in West Lafayette, posted video of the action Saturday night. As of Sunday afternoon, her video had been seen more than 21,000 times.
Toni Lear, a block captain in the Linnwood Neighborhood Association, echoed that.
"We've complained at times about what goes on in that park when things get out of hand," Toni Lear said. "To have police come and just play and show they're not that scary was just huge. It was amazing to see them make that happen.
Vido said he didn't feel as if the troopers made anything happen, exactly. He said the kids wanted to play, the troopers get an hour built into their shifts for physical fitness and the court was right around the corner. The fact that it came in the days after shootings of five police officers in Dallas and protests over high-profile police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota was more of a coincidence, he said.
For video of the pickup game between four Indiana State Police troopers and north end Lafayette kids at Linnwood Park, go to jconline.com and click on the link to this story.