"He Needs a Pair of Boots" — The NYPD Officer Who Knelt on a Freezing Sidewalk: The Larry DePrimo Story

A Bitter Night in Times Square

November 14, 2012. New York City had already slipped into winter's grip. Temperatures plunged below freezing, and a bitter wind carved its way through the canyon of neon signs around Times Square. Tourists hurried past with their collars turned up; New Yorkers moved with their characteristic determination, eyes fixed forward, minds already at tomorrow's meeting.

Officer Larry DePrimo, 25 years old and assigned to the NYPD's counterterrorism unit, was on foot patrol in Midtown Manhattan. It was supposed to be an unremarkable shift — walk the grid, stay visible, stay alert.

Then he saw him.

Near the corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue, in front of a shoe store of all places, a man sat on the freezing sidewalk. He was homeless. He was barefoot. No shoes, no socks — nothing between his swollen, blistered feet and the frozen concrete.

Hundreds of people had already walked past him that evening. Not one had stopped.

The Decision That Changed Everything

DePrimo stopped.

"Are your feet all right?" he asked. The man looked up. "I'm fine. I'm used to it." But DePrimo could see that nothing about those feet was fine. Frostbite was a real and imminent danger. Worse consequences loomed.

Without another word, DePrimo walked into the nearby Skechers store. He asked the employee for the warmest, most waterproof pair of boots they carried. The clerk produced an all-weather pair — about $75. DePrimo pulled out his own credit card. He added a pair of thermal socks.

He walked back to the man, knelt on the cold sidewalk, and personally slid the socks onto those battered feet. Then he laced up the boots, one eyelet at a time.

A Tourist's Photograph

Watching from across the street was Jennifer Foster, a visitor from Arizona who herself worked in law enforcement — the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, to be exact. She understood the weight of what she was seeing. Police officers on counterterrorism patrol are not expected to shop for the homeless. This was something DePrimo chose to do, entirely on his own, with his own money, on his own time.

Foster raised her phone and took a single photograph: a uniformed NYPD officer on one knee, gently fitting boots onto the bare feet of a stranger.

She later sent the image to the NYPD's official Facebook page. On November 27, 2012, the department posted it.

The internet did the rest.

The World Responds

Within 24 hours, the photo had received over 1.6 million likes. Within days, every major news outlet in America — and many around the world — had picked up the story. CNN, NBC, ABC, the New York Times, the BBC, the Guardian. DePrimo was called "New York's warmest cop," "the officer who restored our faith in humanity," and a dozen other superlatives.

DePrimo himself learned about the viral sensation only after the fact. He hadn't told anyone at work what he'd done. In interviews, he was remarkably understated:

"I didn't do anything special. I just saw his feet and I couldn't walk by. That's all."

He also revealed a small, telling detail: he had kept the receipt from Skechers in his bulletproof vest, right next to his heart. He carried it with him on every shift.

"Every time I look at that receipt, I remember the warmth I felt putting those socks on his feet. It was the best $75 I ever spent."

The Complicated Aftermath

As often happens with viral stories, the aftermath proved more complicated than the moment. The homeless man was identified as Jeffrey Hillman, a military veteran. When reporters tracked him down days later, he was barefoot again. He reportedly said he had hidden the boots because they were "too valuable" and he feared they'd be stolen — or worse, that he'd be targeted for them.

It also emerged that Hillman was technically eligible for housing assistance through the VA but had, for reasons of his own, remained on the streets. Some commentators used this to question the story's value. What good are boots if the man won't wear them? Doesn't this prove that charity is futile?

But most people drew a different, deeper conclusion. Homelessness is not a problem that a single pair of boots can solve. It requires systemic support, mental health