By Noelani Mathews | WCTV Eyewitness News

VALDOSTA – On the streets of Valdosta, Officer Vernotis Williams is known by many, and it’s not for issuing tickets.

He gives out toys.

Something Anna Smith Lopez says she wasn’t expecting, when she recently ran errands with her nieces.

“I’ve never seen anything like that locally,” says Lopez. “I didn’t know anyone even did that around here.”

After posting a picture of what happened to Facebook, her post was shared hundreds of times.

“One of the little girls just waved and I waved, then the other one waved and I waved. They made me laugh,” says Williams, describing why he chose to give the toys to the young girls.

A seemingly random act of kindness that many say isn’t random.

Those young girls aren’t the only kids with toys from Officer Williams.

He says for several years he’s probably handed out thousands, which are all stored in the trunk of his patrol car.

“You don’t normally run into a police officer who has a trunk full of toys to give out to kids, so I think they were really surprised,” says Lopez.

Loved by many in the community, and now, it’s easy to see why.

“Everything that happened to me that day that could’ve been seen as negative or bad, someone yelling, screaming, or using profanity, didn’t even matter because all I thought about was those two little smiling girls,” says Williams.

A new friendship that both the girls and Officer Williams will remember for a lifetime.