Bible returned to Franklin man thanks to former NYPD officer

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WSMV) – It’s a heartwarming story of how a Franklin police officer and a former New York City police officer helped make a young man’s day.

“If anybody knows me, they know I take it everywhere with me,” Matthew Busing said.

He pulled out a bag filled with his walled, credit cards and essentials, but it wasn’t what Busing was referring to.

“The bible that was gifted to me 10 years ago. It’s the only one that I’ve ever owned that was given to me by my grandfather,” Busing said.

It’s a bible he nearly lost.

“I set my bible and bag on top of my car,” Busing said.

But he never took them off.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” he said.

About a mile up the road, he found that bag, but his bible was gone.

“I was driving down the road and I saw a book on the road, flipped I over, and it said Holy Bible, so I was excited,” Stephen Colantonio said.

But he didn’t take the bible home. Instead, Colantonio, a former New York City police officer, said he saw an embroidered name and took the book to the Franklin Police Department.

“I used the resource that I could through the police department, and we ended up actually finding an address in Franklin, so I went to it,” Franklin Police Officer Jami Lawlor said.

She found Busing and her sister frantically searching the street for the bible.

“Hey, are you Matthew by chance? You’re not in trouble, ”Lawlor is heard saying through her body camera video of her.

Lawlor’s body camera caught when Busing was reunited with this bible.

“There’s actually a really cool story behind this. There’s a gentleman who worked in New York and was there when the (World Trade Center) towers fell and everything, and he saw that and felt like he needed to come back and pick it up,” Lawlor explained to Busing.

Colantonio said he had no idea what he had done until reporters called to tell him. He was even more touched when he saw the body camera video.

“He just had this weird gut feeling like God was telling him he needed to turn back around, and he went and got it,” Lawlor told Busing.

“I’m just happy. “I’m happy that he was reunited with his bible,” Colantonio said.

It’s a bible Busing said now means even more to him.

“It’s hard to put it into words what I feel, but it’s really a God experience. That’s all you can describe it as,” Busing said.

It’s a day he’ll cherish forever.

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