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Jennifer Foster via NYPD Facebook

Homeless NY man barefoot again despite officer buying him boots

According to the New York Times, Jeffrey Hillman was seen over the weekend wandering the streets with no shoes again.

A HOMELESS, SHOELESS man who, in a random act of kindness, was given a pair of boots by a New York Policeman said he was “grateful” for them but has “hidden them” because they are “worth a lot of money.”

According to the New York Times, 54-year-old Jeffrey Hillman was seen over the weekend on the Upper West Side wandering the streets with no shoes again because he “could lose his life” for wearing them.

The homeless man’s bare, blistered feet became famous after Jennifer Foster from Arizona posted a picture on the NYPD Facebook page of Officer Lawrence DePrimo giving Hillman a pair of boots.

She wrote that as she was about to approach the man who was begging for money an NYPD stepped in:

Right when I was about to approach, one of your officers came up behind him. The officer said, ‘I have these size 12 boots for you, they are all-weather. Let’s put them on and take care of you.’

The officer squatted down on the ground and proceeded to put socks and the new boots on this man. The officer expected NOTHING in return and did not know I was watching.

Officer Lawrence DePrimo. Image NYPD/Facebook.

Officer DePrimo, 25,  has been widely celebrated after the story went viral and told the New York Times, Hillman was the most polite gentleman he had met, adding that his face lit up at the sight of the boots. Officer DePrimo said he offered him a cup of coffee, but “as soon as the boots were on him, he went on his way, and I just went back to my post.”

Hillman is shocked by all of the attention he is now receiving but said he wished there were more people like Officer DePrimo in the world.

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42 Comments
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    Mute Steo Burke
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:11 PM

    There’s a guy who begs barefoot on Henry street. When he sits down he takes his shoes off and puts them in a bag. When he’s done begging he puts his shoes back on and goes on his merry way.

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    Mute Dave hoff
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:17 PM

    same bloke i used te see near trinity doin that last year. see someone buy him shoes and socks. i come past again an hour later and low and behold the shoe bandit struck. no shoes no socks! i blame stupid Irish people for giving them Roma gypsies money. they prob richer than us anyway!

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    Mute Aarum
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:36 PM

    Couldn’t agree more they take away from the real homeless, they travel here get money and head back to Romania with the cash, I’d love to see a proper documentary on the subject to see the live style they have at home thanks to the gullible Irish

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    Mute Jack Gleeson
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:41 PM

    In fairness to the Roma, a lot of them don’t get benefits and they don’t do that well out of begging, about €15-20 a day, because everybody hates them. Mind you a lot of those that do get benefits still beg, it’s all they know – well, that and robbing. Saw people buying shoes for that guy on Henry Street before. Nice gesture, but he just sells them on. It’s not shoes he’s stuck for.

    64
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    Mute Jonathan Hayes
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:49 PM

    Old Roma woman outside Gpo In Waterford there EVERYDAY 9-5. She’s making a killing.. I see people hand her notes all the time. Irish people really are gullible.

    222
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    Mute _doesnotcompute
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:50 PM

    I have witnessed a homeless gentleman on the Hal’penny Bridge doing the same thing.

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    Mute Mark Prendergast
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    Dec 4th 2012, 1:21 PM

    Jack
    A young Roma lad of fourteen was caught climbing over the wall last month at Newlands Cross Golf Club after three hours begging at the traffic lights. He had collected over three hundred Euro. Nice work if you can get it.

    110
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    Mute Jack Gleeson
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    Dec 4th 2012, 1:27 PM

    Really Mark? Yeah, I’d quit the day job if I thought I could get an hourly rate like that! The ones in town I know don’t make that much but they supplement their low takings with what they can rob. That’s not a defence for them by the way. It’s totally unacceptable they carry on the way they do. I just wonder where do you start trying to change a culture as messed up as theirs.

    61
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    Mute David Linehan
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    Dec 4th 2012, 1:43 PM

    Watching TV3 much!? Gutter journalism, if you saw the Roma gypsies at night and the carry on of them you’d think otherwise, robbing, harassing, drunk people as well as soliciting. They lied everytime to the tv3 “reporter”, they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t making money, it’s what they do and who they are. Vermin.

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    Mute Mackie Sanz
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:21 PM

    I saw that man the other day in grafton street, he is doing that to see if someone will buy him a pair of shoes lol

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    Mute Dale Maguire
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:25 PM

    They would not be in the country for fifteen euros a day,lets be realistic jack.The Roma people are making way more,and have you seen any of them in a real job?Anybody giving them money should be punished,there are charities out there to give your spare money to.The Romas should all be sent home as they are the most non productive factor in the country,and they do not even try to integrate with Irish people.They want what’s ours for nothing in return.Hope everyone else reading this gives it some thought before defending these cockroaches,and if you want to give people money on the street,make sure they are Irish.

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    Mute Jack Gleeson
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:50 PM

    I wasn’t defending them Dale. I said what they do is totally unacceptable. I’ve no time for them either, and while sending them home gets the problem out from under our feet I’m just wondering how you go about changing a culture that’s so corrupted. I know it’s hard to feel any sympathy for them, but they aren’t born with a begging bowl in their hand and if we look on them as less than human and describe them as vermin and cockroaches we’re only a step away from thinking a spot of ethnic cleansing would be OK. We all know from history how that panned out the last time it was done in Europe.

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    Mute JayK
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    Dec 4th 2012, 3:04 PM

    Yeah it’s clearly an elaborate scam. They trick Irish people into thinking they are on the street begging, when really it’s an clever scheme comprising of sitting on the street asking passers-by for money. You’ve unraveled their dastardly plot.

    They probably hop into their sports cars afterward and spend the weekend in Monaco.

    22
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    Mute Declan Mannix
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    Dec 4th 2012, 3:12 PM

    @Aarum… Roma gypsies don’t necessarily come from Romania. they trace their roots to the Indian continent. there are a large amount based in central and eastern Europe though but the Roma name has nothing to do with Romania.

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    Mute The Deptford Croppy
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    Dec 4th 2012, 3:18 PM

    When Dublin do as the Romas do….

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    Mute Aarum
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    Dec 4th 2012, 4:32 PM

    Sorry you are correct however a large number of them do live there, I know there are polish, German etc gypsies

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    Mute Dave O'Shea
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    Dec 4th 2012, 6:45 PM

    Yeah, I bought that fecker a three pack of socks last year grrrrrr.

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    Mute Brian Doran
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    Dec 4th 2012, 9:49 PM

    let’s not paint them all with the one brush, firstly Romania is part of the EU so they’re here legally, someone suggested sending them home. secondly, I’m engaged to a Romanian lady, she moved here in2008 to find a job and try make a better life for herself and her kids, even though she is entitled to full child benefit allowance, (minus what is paid in romania) she isnt claiming it, she is working here paying her paye, prsi and usc. she pays her car tax and insurance, she is renting privately. she is no burden on the state whatsoever, and if she were, it’s not really anyone else’s business, if I or anyone else from this country moved to Romania in the morning we would be entitled to claim from their social welfare system if necessary. it’s a European law, not a country specific law. there are gypsies on the streets of Ireland, just the same as there are Irish on the streets of Ireland. I saw a person one day (Irish) begging on the street, it was getting late in the evening so the person went for their car, a 2012 bmw 5 series. begging is rife in Ireland not just with gypsies or genuine people who are homeless, but also drug users who are trying to feed their habit.

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    Mute Mick Jordan
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    Dec 4th 2012, 11:54 PM

    Brian if you ask your Missus what she thinks of the Roma you may get a surprise. I work with 2 Romanian lads and they despise the Roma as do most of the Romanian people. They are hated through out Eastern Europe.

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    Mute Kevin Murphy
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:03 PM

    Great officer, better man!

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    Mute Anna Lark
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:09 PM

    Ride.

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    Mute Pat D'Arcy
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:29 PM

    Everything about this comment is classy.

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    Mute Denise Friary
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:06 PM

    Well done officer.

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    Mute Jim Walsh
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:10 PM

    Great story. Really restores your faith in human kindness.

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    Mute Philip O'Rourke.
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:21 PM

    If we must err, let it be on the side of charity. The cop has my respect.

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    Mute TalentCoop Norah B
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:28 PM

    Way of life, ‘practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty’
    There’s really enough of everything for us all!

    52
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    Mute Joe Soap
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:50 PM

    Well done Garda dePrimo. Must have Irish blood somewhere along the line!

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    Mute Muriel Gowing
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    Dec 4th 2012, 1:49 PM

    Mark Prendergast, if it’s true about the Roma boy getting ?300 begging for 3 hours then he’d easily pull in ?1,000 a week. That’s about ?52,000 a year tax free. How much would you or I have to earn to make that kind of money?

    Begging is unpleasant dangerous work so it must pay well. Commercial begging rings and scams have made people cynical and the cases of genuine hardship suffer as a result. Those who genuinely have to beg are often mentally ill and unable to avail of their rights. Unfortunately these people are probably not as visible as less genuine cases.

    39
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    Mute Yoyo
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    Dec 4th 2012, 1:25 PM

    Few people came forward about supposedly buying the same guy shoes in NYC. Sounds like a scam to me. Not taking away from the warm hearted cop though. Fair play. Say yer man is ragin the cop ever bought him shoes and put him into the spotlight! Hope I’m wrong!!!!

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    Mute Continent Simian
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:10 PM

    Who would have thought a spur-of-the-moment, dramatic gesture would not pan out?

    31
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    Mute Steve
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    Dec 4th 2012, 5:40 PM

    The Journal comment threads become more like Youtube ones with every passing day.

    Thumbs up for barely-literate, reactionary bigotry.

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    Mute Deirdre Mac Mahon
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:20 PM

    He’s obviously a hobbit

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    Mute Sharon Byrne
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    Dec 4th 2012, 3:51 PM

    The police at times have a stigma attached to them,that they only are there to pull us over or move us on….This shows that some join up for the right reasons … If the police interacted with the public more on good terms… Surly there job would be more rewarding … i take my hat off to that officer… !!!

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    Mute Will Monaghan
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:19 PM

    Is it a coincidence they are outside a shoe shop. or did the cop bring him there.?

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    Mute John Duncan
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:10 PM

    lol. thats your man’s shoe rack.

    18
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    Mute Jason Naughton
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    Dec 4th 2012, 3:38 PM

    Not one mention of trying to provide shelter to him! He will just be left in the cold over Christmas.

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    Mute john fox
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:12 PM

    wrong make and color sorry

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    Mute Xadovan
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    Dec 4th 2012, 12:21 PM
    4
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    Mute thomas walsh
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    Dec 4th 2012, 4:19 PM

    This would be more relevant, note he “wants a piece of the pie”…

    http://m.nypost.com/p/news/local/homeless_man_shoeless_again_boots_AfecN54xk3J4yzZWLskbSO

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    Mute Luke
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    Dec 4th 2012, 6:27 PM

    We are being run by a few tight eyed tree huggers. Who would rather play hackysack then lock up the homeless.

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    Mute seamus mcdermott
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    Dec 5th 2012, 10:58 AM

    Troll.

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    Mute Tara Tevlin
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    Dec 4th 2012, 2:55 PM

    how sad poor chap!

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