The mother of a "spoiled" teenager on spring break sent the local sheriff's office a thank you letter for arresting her daughter.
The incident happened March 16 in Walton County, Florida. That's when an officer who works for the local sheriff's department saw the 19-year-old "holding a can of beer on the beach." According to WGHP-TV, the teenager showed a fake ID when the officer asked to see it.
The Walton County Sheriff's Office told Inside Edition that it has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to underage drinking, so the girl was promptly arrested along with several other teenage beachgoers, WALA-TV reported.
"We like to send that message out clearly. We are not trying to ruin kids’ lives but protect them from hurting themselves. We treat them fairly like we would treat anyone else," said Corey Dobridnia, public information officer for the sheriff's office.
Upon finding out of her daughter's arrest, the mother, who lives hundreds of miles away, sent a thank you letter to the officers.
Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr. posted the letter to its Facebook page. The Northwest Florida News also published the letter.
In this day, 'cops' are getting a bad rap. So, I wanted to say 'thank you'. Yesterday, my daughter was one of the thousands of spoiled spring breakers "living it up" on the beach. She got arrested for underage drinking. She was holding a can of beer on the beach. A stupid move that I warned her about before she left, but I'm just her mother, so "in one ear and out the other".The arrest scared the HELL out of her and I'm hoping she learned her lesson. The reason that I am sending this is that every officer that I talked to or that I could hear in the back ground talking to her was so nice! Firm, but nice. I'm sure each one was rolling their eyes when my daughter said "Can you talk to my mom?", but each and every officer was respectful and assured me she would get back to her house safely.
For a mom hundreds of miles away, that was very reassuring. I know you all have to deal with this on a daily basis, which must be completely annoying and I'm very sorry my daughter added to your workload yesterday. They say you always have one child that makes you go grey early and she is mine! Thank you for saving me a few more grey hairs last night.
The unidentified mother's letter is now going viral. So far, the WCSO post has amassed more than 3,000 Facebook reactions and more than 750 shares. The majority of those commenting on the post praised both the mother and law enforcement officers.
"Thank you Walton county & the Mom who allowed her daughter to take responsibility for her actions," one commenter wrote.
Another individual wrote that the arresting officer might have prevented a tragedy: "A good Mother. Thank you for standing in the gap with the law enforcement community. Her arrest may have saved her life actually."
As for the sheriff's department, Dobridnia told Inside Edition that "it’s nice to hear from a parent and hear their support."
It was not clear from news reports whether the teen will face charges.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the teenager was 15. She is 19.
