NYPD Officer's Act of Kindness Goes Viral

 By Alicia Cruz

NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo

The Black Urban Times

A New York Police Department officer's act of kindness was caught on camera by a visiting tourist who saw the officer extending pure humanly love towards another person who had a lot less and was in dire need.


On a cold November evening, Jennifer Foster, a manager at the  Pinal County Sheriff's public safety communications center in Florence, Ariz., observed a shoeless, homeless man asking for spare change.

Just as Foster was about to approach the man, she told ABC News that NYPD officer, 25-year-old Lawrence DePrimo ''Squatted down on the ground and proceeded to put socks and the new boots on this man."

Mrs. DePrimo Speaks to media 

ABC News

DePrimo said it was quite cold that night and he could see that the man had blisters on his feet. So after asking the man what size shoe he wore, DePrimo went inside a nearby store and purchased a pair of all-weather Skechers for $75 along with a pair of socks and proceeded to help the man don his new socks and boots.


DePrimo, of Long Island, joined the NYPD in 2010. He has stated that he was unaware that Foster was watching him let alone photographing his act of kindness. The officer has described the attention as "very humbling."

ABC News reported that, DePrimo told the Times that he kept the receipt "to remind me that sometimes people have it worse."

A week after he received his new boots, ABC News tracked the man down to the West Side of Manhattan where they found him...shoeless. When asked why he wasn't wearing his new, warm boots the man responded, "Those shoes are hidden. They are worth a lot of money. I could lose my life."

Deprimo Boots/ABC News

All-Weather Skechers DePrimo Bought

Tuesday night, the NYPD posted the officer's Foster's photo and message on their official Facebook page. Since then, it has been "liked" more than 300,000 times and shared over 90,000 times, making DePrimo an instant viral hero cop. God Bless you, Officer. May you continue to set the standard for your fellow officers.