Police respond to young boy who had his toy car run over

Four-year-old Toby from Bournemouth wrote to Dorset Police to tell them about the “naughty man” who flattened his precious toy over the Easter break.

Toby’s foster parents, Ash and Jen Dobtini, said the incident left him devastated.

Ash told the Daily Echo: “He was getting into the car outside our house, and he dropped his toy car, and it bounced across the street. A car was coming, and it drove over his car.

“We went to get it after the car had passed, and it was all cracked and crushed - he was so upset, he cried for about four hours.”

After persuading Toby it wouldn’t be appropriate to phone 999 about the incident, Ash and Jen helped him to compose a letter to Dorset Police.

Toby's letter to Dorset Police (Image: Jen Dobtini)

Toby asked them to write: “Please can you catch the bad man and tell him off for breaking my car.”

To their surprise, they received a response from Sergeant Sophie Williams, who had seen a copy of the letter circulating online.

The officer wrote that she was “very sorry” to hear about Toby’s car, and offered assurance that the police are there to help people like just like him.

She also bought him a brand-new toy car out of her own pocket.

The response by Sergeant Sophie Williams (Image: Jen Dobtini)

Ash said: “We’ve been doing lots of work with Toby about how the police are good - they’re our friends and are there to keep us safe - because he’s always been quite scared of the police.

“Sophie has changed his world. It’s gone from him being so frightened of the police, to thinking they are his friends and they’re going to look out for him.

“I think for him, that’ll make a huge difference in his life.

“We really want to say thank you to the police because I know people can be a bit frightened or untrusting of them at the moment.”

Ash added that Toby was “very happy” with his brand-new toy car, and that he now carries it in his pocked to keep it safe.