KERSHAW COUNTY, SC (CNN) — An 8-year-old South Carolina boy who told his mom he was afraid of the police has a new and unexpected friend — a sheriff’s deputy.

“He said, ‘mommy, I don’t want to get stopped because I’m scared I’m going to get shot,” said Gavin Williamson’s mother, Ashton.

So Ashton decided to pull the car over when she saw a deputy’s cruiser on the side of the road one day.

“To make sure that whenever he does get to the point of being pulled over, that he doesn’t have to be fearful,” she said.

Deputy Kerry Shelton said that’s when a new friendship was formed.

“She told me the whole story about him being scared and she wants him to know that not all cops are bad cops, we have a lot of good cops,” Shelton said. “So, we got to talking about food and he offered me his rice and it melted my heart. So I was like, ‘Can I give him a hug?’”

Ashton said from that point on, Deputy Shelton has made it his duty to check on Gavin to make sure he’s OK. And Gavin says he now sees law enforcement in a different light.

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