Video of St. Louis Co. Officers skating at local rink goes viral, gives officers chance to be part of the community
By JENNA RAE
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BRIDGETON (KMOV) — Two St. Louis County police officers were caught on tape enjoying themselves and showing off their skills at Coachlite Skating Rink in Bridgeton. The video has gone viral on Instagram.
People commented on the video saying they wanted to go skating with the officers.
“One Saturday, me and Officer Conley were working and he’s a skater as well, and we were like you know what, the kids are always asking us to skate, let’s go skate with them,” Officer Quintton Williams Sr. said.
That’s exactly what Willams and Officer Michael Conley Jr. did. The video that caught it all now has more than 20,000 views.
“The kids went crazy,” Williams said.
Williams and Conley both grew up in North County. They’ve worked for the St. Louis County Police Department for five years and both now patrol in North County.
“I used to actually go to Coachlite as a kid,” Williams said.
It’s the same story with Conley.
“I also started at Coachlite too. I’ve been skating for about 13-15 years. I kind of slowed down a bit, like Q said, there’s nothing better than actually skating with the kids,” Conley said.
Conley and Williams work a second shift at Coachlite on the weekends to help out with security. They’ve been doing for a while now and say they look forward to it every week.
“We have built like a relationship with the kids at the skating rink,” Williams said.
The kids feel the same way, too.
“The line is already around the building, so as soon as we get out they’re like ‘hey those are the guys from last week!’ They already know, they know the routine,” Conley said.
It’s moments like the one shown in the video that both officers said make their job great. They said it’s building a bridge between the community and its first responders.
“Whenever they see us out of our element, you know, off duty or somewhere else, even on duty, it feels good,” Conley said.
“Kids from all over skate at Coachlite. We have people that come from the city, come from Illinois, West County, North County, South County. Just to see that interaction with the police, you can’t beat it. The kids love it,” Williams said.
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