11-year-old helps officer tie shoe during Fourth of July parade

“CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” debuts July 15 at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Aside from the fireworks, there was one moment that became a Fourth of July favorite in Arlington, Texas. An 11-year-old named Joshua Brown came to the aid of Officer Jerrick Wilson during the city’s Independence Day parade. 

Wilson was about to carry the American flag in the holiday parade when he noticed his shoe was untied. So he told another member of the color guard, who beckoned Brown.
 
“I walked up there and he whispered, ‘Can you tie his shoe,'” Brown said.
 
He saved the day with a double knot.
 
“It kind of made me really nervous,” Brown said.

An 11-year-old boy tied an officer’s shoelaces during a Fourth of July celebration in Arlington, Texas. Wendy Collins Smith

Wilson really wanted to meet Brown and, over the long holiday weekend, got his chance to say thank you to his own first responder.
 
“I had a long way in the parade to go and it definitely saved me from dealing with a headache of worrying about my shoe coming off while carrying a U.S. flag,” Wilson said.
 
How fitting that Brown wants to become a police officer when he grows up and stand in Wilson’s shoes one day. He’ll make sure to keep them tied.