New officer proposes right after being sworn-in

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Right after being sworn in as a South Bend Police Officer, Jeffery Diggins proposed to his girlfriend, Miriam Gallegos.

Diggins, Jeremiah Hooks, Zackary Overton and Matthew Tadevich were sworn in during Wednesday's Board of Public Safety meeting.

He proposed right after being sworn in. Gallegos said yes.

He said he chose this moment because she is so important to him.

“For one I knew she wouldn’t expect it and two just to get the light off me and put it on her because she is my light so I want to make sure she’s at the center of everything I’m doing so I wanted to make sure that she was a big part of this, in this ordeal today," Diggins said.

Did she know it was coming?

"Kind-of because yesterday he asked me to get my nails done," Gallegos said. "I kind-of figured but I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

Diggins said he enlisted some help to pull it off.

“Oh the training staff helped out a lot and the chief of police and the board of public safety, they’re all thumbs up about it and they were almost as excited as me and I couldn’t have done it without them and it’s a big thanks to them that all of this was able to happen," Diggins said.

The event was also special because Diggins' father pinned his badge on him. His father is also a police officer.

"That felt amazing cause that’s my hero right there so to have him do that, that was that was the best thing that could ever happen," Diggins said.

Diggins said he has always wanted to be a police officer because of his father.

“Ever since I’ve seen him because he’s a St. Joe County Officer, so ever since I’ve seen him in it that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I didn’t know what else to do if I wouldn’t have gotten in here but by the grace of God and my family and the training staff here I was able to do it and make him happy and that’s my goal, to make my dad happy," Diggins said.