"I did the most stupid thing that upsets me to this day. I almost assaulted him with a knife, which hurts to say and was truly sorry about it," she says.
The officer, Jorge Dias, placed her under arrest. Elston says she was a troubled kid, but she managed to turn her life around.
Elston said her time at the Swansea Wood School changed her life. The school is an educational treatment school for kids who come from difficult situations. She spent two years there and was finally able to go home to her family, work at ABCD as a teacher's assistant for kids and graduate from high school.
Elston is now 29 years old and is still ashamed of what she did to the officer.
"I cry when I think about it because that's an awful thing to do to someone. Especially someone who protects and serves us," she said.
After all these years, on Wednesday she ran into the officer while attending a kids' basketball game. She went up to him and apologized for what she did so many years ago.
"I'm telling you all there are a lot of great officers out there. I felt great after I apologized and after getting that hug from this officer," she said.
Elston says that people can have a change of heart and that black lives matter, blue lives matter and all lives matter.
"I've spent a lifetime looking to help kids. And while I like to think I've done a lot of good, the interaction with Tasha might be the most powerful thing I've ever experienced as a police officer," said Dias.
Dias, who works in the South End, works for youth services and said he often wondered what happened to Elston after the assault.
Elston is currently working to either be involved in law enforcement or a probation officer.
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