Photo of young boy giving finger to police cruiser goes viral

A picture of a young boy seen giving the middle finger to a Springfield, Massachusetts, police cruiser is going viral, and attracting a lot of criticism online this week.

The photo was posted to the Facebook page that belonged to the boy’s father, which has since been deleted, WGGB reported.

Sgt. John Delaney of the Springfield police told the network he was used to hearing those kind of sentiments from adults, but not a child.

“I would go and rescue that little boy if he was drowning … if he was in a car accident … if he was choking on something … and I would do that and not ask for thanks,” Delaney said.

“And there are 400 other police officers in the city of Springfield that would do the same.”

The news network also spoke with activists at a later protest, who said that kind of behavior hurts their cause.

“I think that just shows bad parenting. That doesn’t represent anybody for the whole race or for our cause,” said Chico Dusty, of Springfield reportedly said.

You can watch the network’s full report below: