Last week, a video made its rounds on social media, like many other videos involving police.
In it, a man appears to be getting arrested while his family records the interaction, waiting for him to propose to his girlfriend.
“Like I said, [the police officer] was such a good actor, I actually thought I did something wrong,” said Ozell Cooper.
Ozell Cooper strived for a memorable Valentine’s Day proposal to his now-finance, Tersia Vries. So he hatched a plan for an arresting proposal.
"And the officer looked at me and said 'are you serious right now?' and I said 'yes, I had to pull out the ring and show him," said Cooper.
The scheme was to have an officer pretend to arrest Ozell for stealing something, an engagement ring.
With his family on board, Ozell’s cousin went out to find a cop up for the job.
“I was sitting in a parking lot. She pulled up and when she told me this crazy proposal idea, I couldn’t pass this up,” said Officer Snef.
Without a word to anyone, Officer Snef headed to Ozell’s neighborhood.
“I put myself on what we call 'assist a citizen complaint.' This way, they couldn’t dispatch me to another call. This was I could devote my complete attention to him and his family,” said Snef.
It's a moment Snef, and the rest of the Syracuse Police Department, are happy to be a part of.
“I think everybody is automatically assuming that this is going to be a bad video. So when that happens, it catches them off guard and the surprise was so great that it takes it home to everybody. I don’t think you can watch that video without smiling,” said Snef.
It wasn’t exactly part of Ozell’s plan to shock anyone aside from Tersia, but thousands of people saw the video.
“I hope everybody enjoys the moment and sees the other side of an interaction between a police officer and a Black male,” said Vries.
“And I appreciate it as well for the officers to help us out while making an everlasting memory,” said Cooper.
Now Ozell and Terisa need to figure out how to make the wedding top the engagement.
“Everyone is invited," they joke.