A witness snapped a photo of a touching moment between a
Texas police officer and a homeless man that has caught the attention
of many on Facebook. Corporal Jeremy Walsh with the Odessa Police
Department was later identified as the officer kneeling next to the
homeless man and giving him a pair of boots and a bottle of water. KWES NewsWest 9
spoke to Cpl. Walsh who simply said, “It seemed like the right thing to
do. I had something that somebody else needed that I didn’t need.”
The
officer knew the homeless man, Anthony Young, who goes by A.J., from
his patrol. Walsh knew that A.J. had a history of frostbite on his feet
and noticed that he was no longer wearing his worn out steel-toed
Dockers. “They ended up falling apart on him. Well, I have some, some
boots that I never wear because they're a size too small and they're
just collecting dust in my closet,” Cpl. Walsh said.
Corporal Jeremy Walsh from the Odessa Police Department (KWES)
The photo was snapped in Odessa, Texas near a shopping center on 8th street. (KWES)
After
the officer’s caring gesture, A.J. was grateful and reluctantly
accepted the boots, only under the condition that he would pay Cpl.
Walsh back in the future. The officer recalled, "A.J. had to, you know,
he had to do a little back and forth…I saw him today. He said the same
thing, 'I haven't forgotten about you.'…I said, 'It wouldn't be a gift
if we were trading bro.'"
Video and more info: KWES, Odessa American online
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