Atlanta Police Officer’s Act of Kindness Caught on Camera

An Atlanta-area police officer was caught on camera giving a pair of shoes to a homeless man. She said she does things like this often, and did not expect any acknowledgment.

Officer S. Thomas was caught on camera giving a pair of shoes to a barefoot man in the parking lot of an Atlanta grocery store.

The officer said she noticed a man walking without shoes in the rainy parking lot one day while she was working her beat in Zone 5, which covers most of downtown Atlanta.

“I was working my beat and I saw a man with no shoes on, or they were badly damaged. So, I asked him if he would still be here when I came back,” Thomas said in an interview. She left to get a pair of socks and shoes only to find the man had left the area while she was gone. She kept the pair of shoes in the trunk of her car, hoping to run into him again.

The next day, as Thomas was working her extra job at a grocery store, she spotted the same man walking outside, barefoot. She quickly went to her car and grabbed the pair of shoes. As she handed them over to the man, a bystander saw the interaction and recorded a video that later went viral on Instagram.

In an interview after the interaction with the homeless man, Thomas said that she is a sneaker head and often keeps an extra pair in her car in case she comes across someone who may need them. “It’s never a time that I don’t think about others due to the fact I haven’t always been able to give,” Thomas said, fighting back tears. “So now that I’m able to, I just like to help.”

Thomas said she does stuff like this all the time, but never does it to be acknowledged. “I didn’t expect this at all,” she said. 

One person commented, “Her heart is pure and so is her soul, i love officer Thomas, she’s always been that way.” 

Atlanta Police Department said in a Facebook post, “Officers with APD routinely show care and consideration to the citizens of the City of Atlanta and perform random acts of kindness without seeking applause. These interactions never make the news. These deeds are just part of any given day for our men and women in blue.”

Image source: Fox News