Las Vegas Police Officer Takes in 5 Children

Some days are not meant to be normal. Some days are meant to change our lives and the lives of others and for North Las Vegas police officer Nicholas Quintana January 14th became a life-changing day for himself and 5 innocent children too in this inspiring story.

Officer Quintana was on a lunch break when he got the call that there was a homicide case. He immediately got the urge to take the case, even though he was at lunch and plenty of officers could respond. As he told a local news station, "Trying to enjoy my lunch and this urge, this abrupt urge, that's the best way I can describe it, came, and I ended up going to the call.” He followed his gut and rushed to the scene of the homicide.

Once he arrived he learned that Emily Ezra had been arrested after shooting her ex-husband Paul Ezra while their 5 children were at home. Emily was eventually charged with open murder with a deadly weapon.

For Officer Quintana, the story hit close to him. As a child he also experienced the trauma of having his father taken away tragically. His father was murdered by a relative when he was just a boy.

"For me, it brought back a memory from my childhood where my father was killed by a family member of mine," he explained, adding, "That's sad. That's extremely sad because now these kids are going to go to Child Haven."

As the other officers left the scene Officer Quintana couldn’t help but think about those 5 children and how they would more than likely get divided up in foster care. He knew he had to help. He ended up discussing fostering the children with his wife, which as one would imagine was a bit of a tough conversation. It took his wife some convincing as initially, she had some reservations. The children themselves were the ones that changed her mind.

"Understandably so, she was absolutely reluctant towards it," he said. "I was like, 'Well listen, hun, just meet them, because you might just fall in love with these kids. Just meet them.' “

A meeting was scheduled with Child Protective Services a few days later. While their, they couldn’t help but fall in love with the 5 children.

"I look at the kids and I say, 'Hey, look, the reason why we're here is because I had a thought. I'd like to take every single one of you. I'd like to take you home,'" Quintana recalled. "And the 16-year-old gasped for a sec and said, 'Really?' and I said, 'Yeah.' "

Quintana had always wanted a family. For him it was all just part of the plan.

"I didn't really have a father figure growing up. I've always longed for that father figure and to be a father, to love my child the way I would've loved my father to love me," he added.

Life can pull you in certain directions for a reason and it is amazing to see the act of love Officer Quintana made to help keep those children together and honor his dream of becoming a father.