NEW YORK -- 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, a tourist from
Florence, Ariz., took a cellphone picture of Officer Larry DePrimo
giving the man the all-weather boots and socks on a frigid night in
Times Square on Nov. 14.
The image was posted on the NYPD's Facebook page and became an instant hit. More than 325,000 users "liked" his generosity as of Thursday morning.
DePrimo tells Newsday the homeless man "smiled from ear to ear. It was like you gave him a million dollars."
He tells The New York Times he keeps the receipt for the boots in his vest to remind him "that sometimes people have it worse."
Associated Press