It was cloudy and overcast pretty much all day Thursday, but for a brief while, there was plenty of sunshine to go around -- at least on a small block in Olney.

Tyler Medina is a sweet 10-year-old kid who lost his innocence -- and almost lost his life -- last month when a nut job slit his throat with a knife for no damn reason at all. Tyler was smart on his feet and knew enough to put pressure on his wound until medics arrived. He survived, and recovered fine physically, save for a light scar on his neck.

Naturally, he was psychologically scarred, more so than we can probably imagine. He has to go to court later this month to face his attacker, which no easy feat for an adult, let alone an innocent boy. Lately, he's confessed to having nightmares about his attacker and is terrified to go outside by himself. That's a lot for a little kid to handle.

This is where Officer Skip Davis and his wife, Theresa, come in. Theresa works with Tyler's mom at Temple Hospital; when she heard about the horrifying attack, she asked her husband if his cop buddies could raise a few bucks for the kid.

Three weeks later, they raised about $1,000. They even went out and bought an Xbox, some games and other goodies. Thursday afternoon, a half-dozen cops from Davis' squad in the Traffic Unit drove up to Olney, where Tyler was attacked. They delivered the gifts, shook his hand, let him drive in one of those fine-looking Expressway Patrol Dodge Chargers and, in the process, gave Tyler a reason to believe there's some good in this world.

The rest of us had to smile, too -- there was something simple and pure about seeing square-jawed cops being able to let their guard down, throw a football around with a couple of youngsters and just hang out for awhile with some city residents.

Tyler and his older brother, Ivan, were thrilled with the video games and the attention the police officers lavished on them. So what was in it for our boys in blue? "We got to have some satisfaction to see him smile," Sgt. John Spence said afterwards. "Hopefully, we changed something negative into a positive and let him know that the police are there for him."

There's still some good in this city yet.