Cop Caught on Video Chasing Kids Outside Housing Project — but the Unexpected Reason Is Why the Clip Is Going Viral

Officer CJ Mullinax was cruising through a development in the Bennettsville Housing Authority earlier this week when he witnessed something that prompted the South Carolina cop to stop his patrol car and approach a group of youths.

Image source: Facebook

"Kids started waving and I was like, 'Hey, I have worked hard enough for today, so I'm gonna stop hang out with the kids for a little while,'" Mullinax told WPDE-TV. "Started throwing the ball back and forth, and they wanted to get a game — I had to be all-time quarterback."

Image source: Facebook

It just so happened that local resident Lorenzo Adams was driving in the area and spotted Mullinax playing football with the kids — so he pulled out his cellphone and started recording.

Image source: Facebook

Adams posted the clip to Facebook Tuesday — noting he "had to ... because of all the other videos out there ..." — and it's garnered over 3,700,000 views and 100,000 shares as of Thursday afternoon.

Image source: Facebook

Here's the video:

"Please SHARE so people can know what kind of cops we have in this town!!!!!" Adams added on the post.

Mullinax, who's been on the Bennettsville squad for a year, told WPDE that seeing the kids' faces when they were playing was "amazing."

Officer CJ Mullinax (Image source: WPDE-TV via YouTube)

But for Chief Larry McNeil, what Mullinax did is part of the job.

"We live here, too," McNeil told the station. "We have family here, we have friends here, so why wouldn't we do these things?"

Chief Larry McNeil (Image source: WPDE-TV via YouTube)

Image source: WPDE-TV via YouTube

"Even though they see us in our uniforms," the chief added, "they still have to see us as humans."

(H/T: WMBF-TV)

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