Why the internet has fallen in love with this police officer

A police officer from Alabama has won the hearts of thousands online after an image of him comforting a baby girl after a car crash went viral.

Deputy Ric Lindley, of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Leeds, AL, pulled the girl from the wreckage of a car on Interstate-20 on Tuesday.

The image of Dep Lindley was shared on the force's Facebook page where it has since been shared more than 9,000 times.

According to WBRC, a local news site, the crash involved an ambulance, a tractor trailer and three cars.

When Lindley approached one of the cars he asked the baby's mother if he could hold her while she calmed down.

We can be hard sometimes, that's just the nature of the beast. But at other times, we're not machines, or computers, we have feelings. We are human beings. And, we try to treat people out here just like we would want someone to treat our children, or our spouses, or our parents.

• Ric Lindley

WBRC reports that neither the baby nor her mother were harmed in the crash.

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