When a police officer in Sumter, South Carolina, got a phone call from a 13-year-old boy who wanted to run away from home he went above and beyond the call of duty.
Officer Gaetano Acerra answered a distress call from local teen Cameron Simmons, and when he arrived at his home he found Simmons across the street at a convenience store, where he had made the call. He explained how he had wanted to run away from home because his mother yelled at him for playing his brother's video games.
Acerra walked him home and during their talk Cameron ended up showing him around inside his family's house, and that's when Acerra noticed something -- Cameron's bedroom had nothing in it. No bed, no dresser -- nothing.
Gaetano Acerra
"He took me to his room and it was four walls, two windows and hardwood floor,"
Acerra told ABC News
. "It was just empty. He had his clothes on the ground in a black garbage bag. I asked him where he sleeps and he said, 'Sometime on the couch and sometimes on a blow-up mattress.'"
He learned from the boy's mother that they had recently moved to South Carolina from Texas in order to help a sick relative, but the family fell on hard times and struggled to make a living in their new home.
Acerra made a few phone calls and talked to a few people he knew and got cameron a queen size bed for his room so he would no longer have to sleep on the floor. But that wasn't all, others donated items like a new desk, a dresser and even a television so he could play his own video games -- because someone even gave Acerra a Nintendo Wii system to pass on to Cameron.
Gaetano Acerra
After weeks of gathering the items, which even included an air hockey table for Cameron to play together with his older brother, Acerra surprised the boy with the help of his brother, Ferdinando, who helped deliver the furnishings. Ferdinando siad he posted on Facebook about his brother's doing in order to "brag a little bit" and word soon spread. They were even able to furnish Cameron's brother's room as well.
Gaetano Acerra
"The kid was in tears," said Acerra. "He was just in shock, so happy. He still is."
Officer Acerra would often stop by and play the Wii with Cameron, but we've learned he relocated to San Francisco in 2016 via his Facebook page.
Gaetano Acerra