Officer stops ice cream truck for 3-year-old girl who missed it

CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Authorities in Chesterfield Township prevented an ice cream catastrophe Thursday evening after a 3-year-old girl missed the ice cream truck by mere seconds.

Zain Marcum was enjoying the summer weather after dinner with her family at their home near 24 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue when the jingle of an ice cream truck was approaching.

“We were out in the yard, she was playing and we heard the ice cream truck so I ran inside to get money,” Cathlene Marcum, Zain’s mother, said.

When they reached the curb, the ice cream truck could be seen down the street and had passed, continuing to play the familiar song.

Chesterfield Township police Officer Matthew McPhillips was assigned to patrol the Marcum’s neighborhood. He saw the look on Zain’s face and decided justice would be served.

“The officer just happened to be driving by so he sped up, turned on his lights and stopped her for us and asked her to turn around,” Marcum said. “The ice cream truck driver was freaked out. She thought she was getting a ticket.”

Zain was able to get her ice cream – she got a screwball with bubble gum – and talked to McPhillips briefly.

“A lot of kids think cops only come when you’re bad but that’s not true, they can come and make you happy,” Marcum said. “What he did taught her more than I could have ever told her.”

McPhillips has only been with the Chesterfield Township Police Department for 1 year.

“Officer McPhillips has had a lot of experience with youth guidance and what he did was definitely a teaching moment, definitely a community service moment and an opportunity to make a young girl happy,” Chesterfield Township police Chief Bradley Kersten said.