Editor’s Note: We’re looking for photos like the one below. Any images which capture courage, compassion, comedy, commitment, poignancy — anything that might restore the citizenry’s faith in law enforcement — in hopes we can help PoliceOne Columnist Val Van Brocklin to put together a book with as many such pictures as possible. If you have a photo to submit, please send it to Val via email.
By Police1 Staff
NEW YORK — The NYPD officer who became a worldwide hero after a photograph showing him giving shoes to a barefoot man went viral has spoken of his act of kindness.
“It was freezing. The first thing I thought was, this is absolutely unacceptable, so I went up to him, and said where are your socks or shoes or anything ,” Officer Lawrence Deprimo told MSN Today.
DePrimo, 25, who was on counter-terrorism duty at the time, is seen in the photo giving shoes and socks to an unidentified man the night of Nov. 14 near Times Square.
The salesman at a nearby shoe store cut Deprimo a deal on waterproof winter boots, saying as a 10-year resident of New York City, he’s never seen anyone “take this sort of initiative.”
Deprimo said he keeps the receipt in his bullet-proof vest, “mostly because I think it’s an important reminder that people have it worse.”
Jennifer Foster, a tourist from Arizona whose father was an officer, said she snapped the photo because she’s seen her father do a similar act, and knew what she was looking at.
“This man’s face lit up like it was Christmas, and like he was literally given a million dollars,” she said.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
“People are saying their faith in humanity is restored, and that’s the biggest thing I could take away from all this.”
On Thursday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly presented DePrimo with a special set of cuff links during a ceremony,
DePrimo said he was expecting jokes from fellow officers at the Sixth Precinct station house as news spread of what he did; instead, they congratulated him.
“It is a humbling experience to have real heroes who have been on this job a lot longer than I have shaking my hand,” he said.