Photo Of A NYC Cop Giving Boots To A Barefoot Homeless Man Turns Him Into An Internet Hero

"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."

Foster, a civilian communications director for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, was blown away by the generous gesture and "presentation of human kindness," revealing that the cop expected nothing in return and didn't know she was watching. She did not know the officer's name so posted the photo on Facebook to identify him, in what has now become a runaway hit for the Police Department's fledgling social media efforts.

The 25-year-old cop from Long Island has responded to the outpouring of respect by simply saying, "I didn't think anything of it."

After joining the force in 2010, DePrimo is normally assigned to the Sixth Precinct in the West Village, and his experiences on the streets have far from hardened his heart.

“It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,” he recalled. “I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.” They started talking; he found out the man’s shoe size: 12.

As the man walked slowly down Seventh Avenue on his heels, Officer DePrimo went into a Skechers shoe store at about 9:30 p.m. “We were just kind of shocked,” said Jose Cano, 28, a manager working at the store that night. “Most of us are New Yorkers and we just kind of pass by that kind of thing. Especially in this neighborhood.”

The lucky beneficiary of DePrimo's kindness has yet to be identified, but the officer described him as "the most polite gentleman I had met,” adding that the man’s face lit up at the sight of the shoes. "As soon as the boots were on him, he went on his way, and I just went back to my post.”