--- title: Viral Boy Calls 911 to Save Christmas from the Grinch description: A young boy in Mississippi called the local police after fearing that the Grinch would steal Christmas from everyone. canonical: https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-19T16:18:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:49:22.690Z og:title: Little Boy Calls 911 to save Christmas from the Grinch og:description: "He steals everybody's Christmas!" og:url: https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa601f7a4f4a4e5/6988f5b8929fad324bbeeef3/boy-calls-911-to-save-christmas-from-grinch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Florence Henderson Receives The "Who-Manitarian Of The Year" Award og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Little Boy Calls 911 to save Christmas from the Grinch twitter:description: "He steals everybody's Christmas!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa601f7a4f4a4e5/6988f5b8929fad324bbeeef3/boy-calls-911-to-save-christmas-from-grinch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Adorable Little Boy Tried to Save Christmas From the Grinch by Calling 911  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 19, 2017 4:18 PM UTC  UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - NOVEMBER 27: A general view of atmosphere as actress Florence Henderson receives the 'Who-Manitarian Of The Year' Award at Universal Studios Hollywood on November 27, 2013 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images) UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - NOVEMBER 27: A general view of atmosphere as actress Florence Henderson receives the 'Who-Manitarian Of The Year' Award at Universal Studios Hollywood on November 27, 2013 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)Imeh Akpanudosen—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 19, 2017 4:18 PM UTC A young boy attempted to do [his civic duty](http://time.com/4656846/911-call-dad-drug-overdose/) for his community when he placed a 911 call to stop [the Grinch from stealing Christmas](http://time.com/4602163/ithaca-police-arrests-grinch/) this holiday season. Five-year-old TyLon Pittman of Byram, Mississippi, called his local police for help to save Christmas from the Grinch after watching a video online about the classic Seuss curmudgeon. Following TyLon’s concerned call, police officer Lauren Develle visited the young boy to reassure him that the police would do everything in their power to ensure that the Grinch would not steal Christmas. In a Facebook video posted by TyLon’s older brother, TeDera Dwayne Graves, Develle asks TyLon what he would do if the Grinch stole Christmas, something he takes very seriously. “I want y’all to come back to my house and take him to jail,” he said, citing that the Grinch “steals everybody’s Christmas.” According to [_The Clarion Ledger_](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/12/18/boy-calls-911-report-grinch/960746001/), TyLon was invited to come to the police station on Monday to help lock up the Grinch after he was caught. TyLon was also named an honorary junior officer for the day. Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/"},"headline":"This Adorable Little Boy Tried to Save Christmas From the Grinch by Calling 911","datePublished":"2017-12-19T16:18:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:49:22.690Z","description":"\"He steals everybody's Christmas!\"","url":"https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","christmas","Holiday 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa601f7a4f4a4e5/6988f5b8929fad324bbeeef3/boy-calls-911-to-save-christmas-from-grinch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aa601f7a4f4a4e5/6988f5b8929fad324bbeeef3/boy-calls-911-to-save-christmas-from-grinch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Florence Henderson Receives The \"Who-Manitarian Of The Year\" Award","caption":"Florence Henderson Receives The \"Who-Manitarian Of The Year\" Award","creditText":"Imeh Akpanudosen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5071502/boy-saves-christmas-from-grinch-by-calling-911/","name":"This Adorable Little Boy Tried to Save Christmas From the Grinch by Calling 911"}}]}] ```