Cop Photo Goes Viral: Officer John Bradley Delivers Milk To Wells Family During Boston Lockdown

In the midst of the citywide lockdown and the historic manhunt for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a Brookline, Mass., police officer took the time to deliver milk to a family with a baby.

Kevin Weeks, father to 17-month-old son Holden, took a picture of officer John Bradley of the Brookline, Mass., police department as he brought two gallons of milk to the family’s home on Friday. By Tuesday, the photo had gone viral, with more than 100,000 shares on Facebook.

At the height of the lockdown, the infant’s grandmother, who was visiting from Colorado, briefly left the family’s home to ask officer Bradley if she could buy some milk for Holden. Rather than make a civilian brave the locked-down streets of Brookline, Bradley purchased the milk and delivered it to the Wells’ door.

“It just meant the world that he literally went out and got two gallons of milk," McKenzie Wells, Holden’s mother, told NBC’s Today Show. “We wanted to pay him, but he wouldn’t take money from us. He was just so generous."

Ironically, the Wells’ initially removed the photo from Facebook so as not to upset Bradley, Today reports.

“The fact that it went as viral as it did was kind of crazy,'' McKenzie Wells told The Today Show. "We kind of thought we were going to get in trouble at first, so we pulled it off. We just didn't want to upset the officer, but we didn't think it would be everywhere.”

Bradley declined to comment on his act of kindness, but Lt. Phil Harrington, a Brookline Police Department spokesperson, addressed the photo on his behalf.

“He was just happy to be able to help,’’ Harrington wrote in an email to The Today Show. “He does not want to take credit from the many officers who were there doing their job.”

For Brookline residents, the walk to a local grocery store posed a real danger last Friday. The Wells family lives between the location of the Friday morning shootout between the suspects and police and the boat where local police arrested Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

“It was just nerve-wracking,’’ McKenzie said. “Being locked in your house is something you'll never think you'll experience.”

Thanks to officer Bradley, the experience was slightly less uncomfortable.