It’s cold outside, but this story from New York will definitely warm your hearts. Trust us. If anything it restored our faith in human nature and made us believe in kindness.
On a freezing November night, Officer Lawrence Deprimo was working a counterterrorism post in Times Square when he came across an old homeless man who was barefoot and cold.
Officer Deprimo walked away and disappeared for a few minutes, but then returned with a brand new pair of boots for the homeless man. He knelt down and helped the man to put them on.
The act of kindness would have gone unnoticed but Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Arizona, managed to capture the moment on camera:
The New York Times reports that the picture has since turned Officer Deprimo into an internet sensation. Thousands of people commented and shared the picture on social networking websites.
“I still have a grudge against law enforcement everywhere, but my respects to that fine officer,” said one Facebook user.
“It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet. I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold,” said Officer Deprimo, speaking about the encounter.
The police officer went into a nearby shoe store and bought a pair of all-weather boots for the man. He has kept the receipt in his pocket since then in order to remind him “that sometimes people have it worse.”
As for the man he helped, the police officer never got his name but said that he was “the most polite gentleman I had met.” Officer Deprimo said that he offered the man a cup of coffee, but “as soon as the boots were on him, he went on his way, and I just went back to my post.”
