Mikayla Raji, 8, was not yet born when her dad, Officer Thomas Raji, was killed by a drunk driver in 2009.
The 8-year-old daughter of a police officer slain in the line of duty showed an incredible amount of kindness when she picked up the tab for a New Jersey cop at a restaurant where she was dining with her mom.
Read: Widow of Slain Officer Gives Birth to Baby Boy Months After Husband's Death
Mikayla Raji, 8, was with her mom Mimi Jimenez-Raji at the Helmetta Township eatery when they spotted Officer Joseph Quinn picking up dinner.
“He engaged in conversation with the little girl [and] unbeknownst to him, the little girl […] wanted to buy him dinner,” Chief James Craparotta of the Jamesburg Police Department told InsideEdition.com. “Mom agreed, and quietly went and paid for the dinner without the officer knowing.”
When the waiter refused to tell Quinn who had covered his bill, he used “diligent police work” to discover it was indeed Mikayla.
That was when he also discovered Mikayla was the daughter of Thomas Raji, a Perth Amboy police officer who was killed in 2008 when a drunk driver broadsided his cruiser.
“Mikayla wasn’t even born yet. Mikayla’s mom was seven months pregnant at the time,” Craparotta said. “This was just such a kind gesture by such a sweet little girl, that we felt like we needed to do something to pay-it-forward.”
The following day, their department decided to put together a GoFundMe page to raise money for her education as a way of banding together and supporting her in the place of their fallen brother in blue.
“She said that her favorite store is Barnes & Noble, so she likes to read... I think she’s a pretty good student and I think she’s going to go far,” Craparotta said.
Read: Moms Donate Breast Milk to 4-Month-Old Baby After Police Officer Mom Is Slain in Line of Duty
They also reached out to her to invite her to lead the Memorial Day parade in their town, as a way to honor her fallen father.
“She’s real excited about that,” he explained. “She has a great deal of pride that her dad and her mom were both police officers. She supports the police and she’s just feels like we’re a part of her life – it’s part of her family.”
