John McGlothlen

I'm the News Research Analyst for Iowa SourceMedia Group. I also post some things on the News Hawk blog.
Updated: 29 November 2012 | 11:22 am in News Hawk by John McGlothlen

NYPD officer’s kindness sparks online sensation

Gives new boots to barefoot homeless man in Times Square


thegazette.com Copyright 2011 SourceMedia Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This photo provided by Jennifer Foster shows New York City Police Officer Larry DePrimo presenting a barefoot homeless man in New York's Time Square with boots Nov. 14, 2012 . (AP Photo/Jennifer Foster)

NEW YORK (AP) — A tourist’s snapshot of a New York City police officer giving new boots to a barefoot homeless man in Times Square has created an online sensation.

Jennifer Foster, of Florence, Ariz., was visiting New York with her husband on Nov. 14, when she came across the shoeless man asking for change in Times Square.

As she was about to approach him, she said the officer — identified as Larry DePrimo — came up to the man with a pair of all-weather boots and thermal socks on the frigid night. She recorded his generosity on her cellphone.

It was posted Tuesday night to the NYPD’s official Facebook page and became an instant hit. More than 325,000 users “liked” it as of Thursday morning, and over 79,000 shared it.

Thousands of people commented, including one person who praised him as “An officer AND a Gentleman.”

The photo shows the officer kneeling beside the man with the boots at his feet. A shoe store is seen in the background.

The NYPD Facebook page on Thursday posted a comment from DePrimo saying “I didn’t think anything of it” and updated it with a photo of DePrimo taken in 2011.

 

In this undated photo released by the New York City Police Department, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, officer Larry DePrimo is shown on-duty. DePrimo was working in Times Square on Nov. 14 when he gave a barefoot homeless man a new pair of socks and insulated boots. (AP Photo/New York Police Department)

“‘I have these size 12 boots for you, they are all-weather. Let’s put them on and take care of you,’” Foster quoted DePrimo as saying to the homeless man. “The officer squatted down on the ground and proceeded to put socks and the new boots on this man. The officer expected NOTHING in return and did not know I was watching.”

Foster said she’s worked in law enforcement for 17 years and has never been more impressed.

“His presentation of human kindness has not been lost on myself or any of the Arizona law enforcement officials with whom this story has been shared,” Foster wrote on Facebook. She said she never got the officer’s name.

DePrimo, who is assigned to the Sixth Precinct and lives on Long Island, told Newsday that the homeless man “smiled from ear to ear” after getting the boots.

“It was like you gave him a million dollars,” he added.

He told The New York Times that he keeps the receipt for the boots in his vest to remind him “that sometimes people have it worse.”

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NYPD Facebook page showing photo: http://on.fb.me/UdfGeX

 

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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