MANCHESTER • Anthony Dean knew what it meant to desperately need the police. So he stepped up last week when he saw a tangible way to display his gratitude.
Dean, 46, of Manchester, was on a business trip July 8 when friends and neighbors called to say that a Ballwin police officer had been shot and the suspect was loose near his home. His daughter, 4, and sons, 6 and 9, were with a baby sitter, and Dean felt frantic.
Relief came with news that St. Louis County officers made the arrest in woods near his backyard.
Dean remembered his gratitude in a chance encounter with two officers Thursday at a restaurant. They had ordered $500 in takeout food for the family and friends of St. Louis County Police officer Blake Snyder, who was slain in the line of duty that morning.
Standing in the food line with his daughter, Dean heard what they were doing and quietly paid the bill. He gave officers only his first name — and an explanation of how much it meant that they had kept his family safe on a day when he couldn’t.
