Officer Takes 8-Year-Old Girl to Daddy-Daughter School Dance After Her Father Dies

An Arkansas school resource officer ensured that one little girl who recently lost her father didn’t have to miss out on the daddy-daughter dance by escorting her to the event in his place.

When Cpl. Nick Harvey heard that 8-year-old Avey Cox might not be able to attend the Feb. 10 dance at her Van Buren District elementary school because her father had died over the holidays, he knew he had to do something, CBS affiliate KFSM and CNN reported.

Harvey spoke to his fellow school officers and suggested that they volunteer to take any students without fathers to the daddy-daughter dance — and then kicked off his sweet plan to help Cox.

“I reached out to the mother. The mother came and said it was okay,” Harvey recalled to KFSM, jokingly adding, “Because the last thing I wanted to do was to get rejected by a second-grader.”

“So, her mom talked to her about it, and the next day, I formally asked if she’d be my date to the daddy-daughter dance,” Harvey continued to the outlet.

Cox happily said yes to the offer, telling KFSM that she was thrilled to attend her first-ever dance.

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“I was excited because I never, ever went and it would be my first time and I actually had been wanting to go,” she explained to the outlet.

When the big night finally came that Monday, Harvey wanted to make sure it was one that Cox would never forget.

Picking up the second-grader in his police vehicle, Harvey wore a red tie and pocket square with his black suit to match her red dress — a moment that was captured in several photos on Harvey’s Facebook.

The pair then met up with Cox’s six friends and their respective father dates before enjoying a pizza dinner and riding to the school dance in a stretch limo.

“It meant a lot because I actually got to go and see all my friends there, and then, I got to go with him and have a lot of fun,” Cox told KFSM.

The night was equally as memorable for Harvey, reportedly a father to daughters who are too old for the dances now.

“I embarrassed myself a little bit,” he joked to the outlet of his time with Cox. “[I] danced, [but] I can’t dance at all.”

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“She’s an awesome kid,” he added of the second-grader, whom he said he hopes to escort to all of her future daddy-daughter dances.

Harvey and Cox ended their night on a sweet note by going out for ice cream before the school resource officer brought her back home in his police vehicle, KFSM reported.

Reflecting on the special night on Facebook, Harvey couldn’t help but rave about his job, which he said made this experience possible.

“I am so blessed to have been placed in a position where I get to have moments like these,” he wrote beside several images from the evening. “Tonight, I had the absolute honor of escorting this amazing and beautiful little girl, Avey to the Daddy-Daughter Dance.”

“We had so much fun riding in an awesome limousine, eating dinner and letting loose and being goofy,” he went on. “We danced like we just didn’t care and got to spend time with friends and other dads.”

“I love my job for so many reasons. But reasons like this make my job the best job for me,” Harvey added. “Thank you to everyone who made this possible.”