Police Officer Has Tea Party With Little Girl Whose Life He Saved

A little over a year ago, mom Tammy Norvell was playing outside with her kids when the unthinkable happened. She saw her daughter Bexley’s lips turn blue and then collapse on the floor.

“She went completely limp,” Norvell told ABC News. “It was more than falling asleep. She just collapsed. I looked in her eyes and she was so distant. We had no clue she had swallowed anything.” Bexley had been choking on a penny.

Bexley’s father called 911 and officer Patrick Ray came immediately. Ray took the little girl and pried her mouth to remove the penny from her esophagus.

“That’s when we heard the most beautiful sound of her squeaking and coughing and crying,” Norvell recalled.

Now, Ray is back at the Norvell house, but not because anyone is in danger. Bexley has invited him to a tea party.

“It was something that I just couldn’t turn down because I knew it was going to be really special for her mom and Bexley,” Ray told ABC. The tea party was captured in a stunning photoshoot and illustrates the bond that the pair now share.

“I have two boys, so I don’t get to do that type of stuff you do with a little girl. She’s a sweetheart. She’s my best friend,” he said.

But it’s not just tea parties they share. Ray and Bexley’s families have become closer than ever.

“We saw them for Thanksgiving, we had Christmas together, he came to my kids’ parties,” Norvell told ABC. “I feel that I have no words, even after a year. I hold [police officers] all in high regard, but there’s no way to repay [Ray]. I want to portray that image, that they have a softer side. If we can change one person’s image of police officers, then the world can only be better.”