Cop gives boots to homeless man, becomes online sensation
While campaigns against police brutality struggle for attention, one heartwarming NYPD-promoted photo goes viral
By Natasha LennardTopics: Police brutality, NYPD, Homelessness, Homeless, New York, Social Media, Facebook, News
The NYPD have received the gift of holiday-period good P.R.: A tourist in Times Square snapped a photo of an NYPD officer giving a pair of boots and warm socks to a barefoot homeless man. The image — an undeniably heartwarming scene of protection and service — became an online sensation once the NYPD posted it to its Facebook page on Tuesday. More than 370,000 users “liked” it as of Thursday morning, and over 109,000 shared it.
Officer Larry Deprimo, the cop who gifted the boots and reportedly told the recipient, “I have these size 12 boots for you, they are all-weather. Let’s put them on and take care of you,” showed the sort of human kindness worthy of sharing online and “IRL” (in real life). Little wonder the NYPD would use the photo of Deprimo as an image boost over social media. There is, however, something galling about the viral celebration of the image as something representative of NYPD’s attitude toward the homeless when there is an ongoing battle by homeless advocates in New York to combat mistreatment by cops. Equally, it’s worth noting that images of severe police brutality get far less online attention. Meanwhile, reporters and citizen journalists have repeatedly in the past year been physically prevented from filming NYPD aggression.
Bronx-based homeless organizing group Picture the Homeless has for over 10 years been conducting a citywide civil rights campaign specifically aimed at curbing police abuses against individuals sleeping on the streets. PTH highlighted that police regularly use force, arrest and ticket homeless individuals for “disorderly conduct” without citing an offense, essentially (and technically illegally) criminalizing homelessness.
“The NYPD has been on a warpath against the homeless, going back decades,” Jean Rice, a PTH member and longtime civil rights campaign leader, told Salon Thursday, adding, “The kindness of one individual officer is a drop in the ocean of the NYPD’s pattern and practice of violating homeless people’s civil rights. The level of corruption and illegal police behavior that exists in our current city government has not been seen since Teddy Roosevelt was this city’s police commissioner. Random acts of kindness and mere cosmetic adjustments will not provide the progressive reform that disproportionately communities of color in this city need to ensure their survival.”
Through surveys and testimonies, PTH is building a case for a possible lawsuit against the NYPD. This hard-fought and ongoing campaign does not, of course, detract from Officer Deprimo’s generosity, but it does highlight a counter-narrative about the NYPD that is deserving of vastly more attention.
The disturbing footage of two NYPD officers brutalizing a shirtless, shoeless homeless man found sleeping in a Brooklyn Jewish community center is not undone or counteracted by the photo of Deprimo giving a homeless man boots, nor does the brutality undo the kindness — that’s not how it works. But the NYPD is an institution and should be judged as far as possible by the sum of its acts and effects. Thus, when evidence of police goodness is splashed over social media at a rate and an extent far outweighing evidence of brutality, it’s clear that some skewed judgment of the institution is being produced.
It’s worth noting too that in New York and other major cities, journalists both professional and citizen have been prevented on numerous occasions from filming or photographing police acting aggressively or brutally. Famously, journalists and photographers were physically removed (some with force) and cordoned off at a distance while police evicted Occupy Wall Street’s Manhattan base in Zuccotti Park last year. A New York Times freelance photographer was on one occasion arrested and on one occasion physically roughed up by NYPD officers attempting to photograph arrests (which is legal in New York). It was only this week that the Supreme Court ruled against Illinois prosecutors seeking to enforce a law that banned people from filming police. Items of media showing police kindness must then be viewed in a context wherein conveying police wrongdoing has been prevented both legally (in some states) and at street level.
Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
U.S. counterterror database spikes
-
American journalist likely being held by Syrian government
-
DNA on Boston explosive doesn't match Tsarnaev's widow
-
Blizzards in May. Wild fires. Is this global warming?
-
The real reason not to intervene in Syria
-
Fox News: Plan B "covers up rapes," is "boon for creepy uncles"
-
Dzhokhar's ex-fling speaks about his friendships
-
Cicadas prepare to invade by the billions
-
More people in U.S. die from suicide than car accidents
-
Gay French politician receives death threat over marriage announcement
-
Dow Jones crosses 15,000 for first time ever
-
Dow Jones soars following April jobs report
-
Jeffrey Goldberg's Qatari myopia
-
California wildfire burns 15-mile path to Pacific
-
Inside the kiddie gun market
-
UN: Gitmo force-feeding is inhumane
-
Must-see morning clip: Veterans still waiting for medical benefits
-
Jobs report: Unemployment rate falls to 7.5 percent
-
Obama "comfortable with" FDA decision allowing girls 15 and up to buy Plan B
-
Hagel: Arming Syrian rebels is an option
-
How shoppers can help prevent Bangladesh-type disasters
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
Reuters/Jason Reed -
Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
AP/A.M. Ahad -
Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
AP/Elise Amendola -
Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani -
Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
AP/Manish Swarup -
Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
AP/Jeff Roberson -
Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel -
Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
AP/Liu Yinghua -
On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
AP/Rogelio V. Solis -
The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
AP/David J. Phillip -
Recent Slide Shows
-
The week in 10 pics
-
"Arrested Development" character posters
-
Photos of the Boston manhunt
-
Newspaper headlines covering the Boston explosion
-
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
71 names so awful New Zealand had to ban them
Kyle Kim, GlobalPost
-
"This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann"
Alex Seitz-Wald
-
He made me his drug mule
Alix Wall
-
Ted Cruz will never be president
Joan Walsh
-
Claire Messud to Publishers Weekly: "What kind of question is that?"
David Daley
-
Pictures of people who mock me
Haley Morris-Cafiero
-
Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest
Justin Elliott
-
Is Michael Pollan a sexist pig?
Emily Matchar
-
How conspiracists think
Sander van der Linden, Scientific American
-
Alex Jones: Conspiracy Inc.
Alex Seitz-Wald
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

125 points126 points127 points | 10 comments

94 points95 points96 points | 53 comments

58 points59 points60 points | 5 comments

25 points26 points27 points | 7 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
- Eel smuggling suspects arrested
- US extends targeted sanctions against Myanmar
- Syria: Rebels target airport, 'dozens' of villagers executed by government forces
- Indonesia radicals rally for 'Myanmar jihad' after Jakarta bomb plot foiled (PHOTOS)
- WATCH LIVE: Obama talks immigration, collaboration from Mexico (VIDEO)



Comments
19 Comments