Officer Lawrence DePrimo bought new boots for a homeless man he encountered in Times Square. (Photo: Jennifer Foster)
An all-too-common story is that of a passerby who uses his cell phone to catch a cop in an unflattering light. The social media world then picks up the picture, and it goes viral. But this time, the story is different. This time, the passerby took a picture that captured an act of kindness that reflects positively on police officers everywhere and inspires us all.
The picture – taken by Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Arizona, on an extremely cold night in Times Square – showed NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo giving a pair of boots to a barefoot older homeless man, Jeffrey Hillman. The officer was on counterterrorism duty when he spotted Mr. Hillman without shoes sitting on 42nd Street. The officer walked to a Skechers store and paid $75 (the store manager gave him the employee discount) for insulated winter boots and thermal socks.
When he returned to Mr. Hillman, he knelt down to put the footwear on him. Just then, the tourist snapped the photo. The image, initially posted on the NYPD’s Facebook page, became an instant hit. More than 600,000 users “liked” what they saw. Officer DePrimo found himself in great demand for interviews by news media outlets around the world.
“It was freezing out, and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,” 25-year-old DePrimo, a three-year veteran of the department who lives with his parents on Long Island, told The New York Times. “I had two pairs of socks, and I was still cold.”
While New York Times reported this week that Mr. Hillman was spotted this week wandering the streets again with no shoes, we’d like to echo Mr. Hillman’s sentiment when he thanked Officer DePrimo and said, “I wish there were more people like him in the world.”
Even though they may not be recorded by cell phones, similar acts of kindness happen every day. One example here in Los Angeles also involves shoes. The LAPD’s Olympic Station is collecting shoes for underprivileged school-aged children in Operation Shoes from Santa. Hundreds of pairs of shoes have been dropped off in bins at the Olympic Area Watch Commander’s Office. On the evening of December 20, LAPD officers and Santa will distribute the shoes at the LAPD Olympic Station.
We recognize and commend our colleague in New York for inspiring people across our nation – and not just police officers – to practice acts of kindness. There is no better time of year to keep an eye out for the sometimes unexpected opportunities to do just that.
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