ARVADA – As the sun rises over Oberon Middle School, School Resource Officer Gordon Beesley pulls into the empty parking lot and begins to unload his bike from his squad vehicle.
"Union 37, can you hold me out on community relations?" he says over the radio. He pulls on his gloves, buckles his helmet, and takes off on the bike down the street.
"I've always been a morning person, so it's a good way to start the day," he said as he rode down Simms on Thursday morning. "That kind of wakes you up."
On his way to his destination, he picks up Blais, an eighthgrader at Oberon who's been riding with him since last year.
The two make their way down suburban streets until they end up at a house where another eighth grader rides out.
"Morning buddy, how you doing?" Beesley asks Micah Petersen.
"Good," he responds simply.
The three then make their way back towards Oberon Elementary.
Micah and 'Beesley'
Micah and Officer Beesley first became friends during seventh grade, when Micah approached the school resource officer on the playground.
"We just got to chit chatting," Beesley said. "He's a really social kid. He'll just come up to you and start talking."
During their chats, Beesley started to realize Micah was an avid biker. He instantly took interest in a few donated bikes.
"I had them sitting around in the office here," Beesley said. "Micah was always eyeballing it and one day he's like 'you know my bike is kinda messed up.'"
"I'm like 'oh well what do you think of that one' and he went for it," Beesley adde
But Beesley quickly realized Micah couldn't take full advantage of his new ride.
"It has been a developmental delay pretty much since he was born," Brandy Nix, Micah's mom said.
She said Micah has a cognitive disability that makes the eighth grader operate more at a second or third grade level.
"I think there are sometimes he realizes maybe that he's not going to be able to do everything he wants in life and I think that might be a little tough for him," Beesley said.
Nix didn't want her son riding that new bike to school alone.
"When he's in the car with me he doesn't know what I'm doing half the time so I know he can't be out there crossing streets," she said.
"I got in touch with mom and said 'hey how would you feel about me coming to pick up Micah' she said 'sure that would be great as long as you're with him,'" Beesley said.
That one ride turned into a routine. Blais, who is a fan of riding his bike too, saw the pair and joined shortly after.
Beesley say the rides do wonders for Micah.
"Just having that autonomy to go where you want when you want and I think he was just kind of missing out on that," he said.
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