Heartwarming photo snapped by tourist shows NYPD officer giving winter boots to barefoot homeless man



A New York police officer's spontaneous act of kindness has captured the praise of hundreds of thousands of people across the internet.



A tourist from Arizona captured a heartwarming photo of Lawrence Deprimo kneeling down to give a barefoot homeless man a pair of winter boots on a cold night on November 14.



The NYPD posted the photo on its Facebook page, an effort to show the softer side of the nation's largest police force.

Nearly 300,000 people have 'liked' the photo online. Another 65,000 people have shared it.

Act of kindness: Hundreds of thousands of people have expressed appreciation for Officer Lawrence Deprimo after the NYPD posted this photo of him on Facebook

Officer Deprimo said he was patrolling Times Square in the heart of Manhattan when he came across the man, who was huddled next to a storefront with nothing on his feet, the New York Times reports.



'It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,' the officer told the Times. 'I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.'

Officer Deprimo said he talked to the homeless man and found out his shoe size: 12.



He watched the man stand up and walk slowly, painfully, down the cold pavement of the sidewalk on the balls of his feet.



The 25-year-old officer went into a nearby Skecher's store and found a $100 pair of winter boots that he believed would keep the man warm through the winter.



Jose Cano, the assistant manager at the Skechers store in Times Square, said he discounted the Alamar Terence shoes from $100 to $49.50 as he was 'inspired'.

Mr Cano, 28, said: 'The cop came in here and said he wanted some shoes and was acting calm and normal.

'When we asked about the size he explained what he wanted to do and that it was for a homeless guy.

'We guessed the size and it seems they fitted. We thought it was inspirational and have him a discount - we only get two of those a month but it was worth it.

Snug: A worker at Skechers shows off the type of $100 boot donated to the homeless man

Good publicity: The NYPD posted the photo in the hopes of showing the gentler side of the hard-edged NYPD

'He didn't take a bag and just took the boots outside and gave them to the guy who looked shocked.

'I don't think the cop told him what he was up to before he did it.

Mr Cano added that it was great news for the New York City Police Department as 'they've finally been caught doing something good'.

Officer Deprimo said he keeps the $75 receipt as a reminder that 'sometimes people have it worse.'

Deprimo, who lives on Long Island with his parents, joined the force in 2010.



The photo was taken by Jennifer Foster, a 911 dispatcher from from Pinal County, Arizona, who was in New York for Thanksgiving.

When she got home, she emailed the photo to the NYPD, which posted it to the department's Facebook page.



She said she took the picture because the scene reminded her of her own father, a 32-year veteran of the Phoenix police department. She remembers as a child watching him give food to a homeless man.

'He squatted down, just like this officer,' she told the Times.



