Homeless man given boots by New York cop shoeless again
Staff reporter
December 03, 201212:28PM
A tourist in Manhattan's Times Square took this heartwarming picture of New York policeman Larry DePrimo giving homeless man Jeffrey Hillman a pair of boots and thermal socks. Picture: Facebook Source: Supplied
NYPD Officer gives shoes to homeless man
THE homeless man who was given a pair of socks and boots by a police officer in New York is shoeless once again.
Jeffrey Hillman was given a pair of $100 ($96) boots on November 14 by police officer Lawrence DePrimo, in a random act of kindness. But he was spotted on Sunday night in New York's Upper West Side walking barefoot, The New York Times reports.
Mr Hillman said he still had the boots but had hidden them for his own safety.
"Those shoes are hidden. They are worth a lot of money," Mr Hillman told the newspaper. "I could lose my life."
The 54-year-old said he was grateful for the kindness shown by officer DePrimo on that cold winter's night.
"I want to thank everyone that got onto this thing. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. It meant a lot to me. And to the officer, first and foremost."
But he admitted he was rather taken aback by the attention given to the story around the world - particularly by the media.
"I was put on YouTube, I was put on everything without permission. What do I get?" he said. "This went around the world, and I want a piece of the pie.
"I appreciate what the officer did, don’t get me wrong," he said. "I wish there were more people like him in the world."
Mr Hillman, from South Plainfield, New Jersey, told The New York Times he joined the Army in 1978 and served as a "food service specialist" in the United States and Germany. He said he was honourably discharged after five years and worked in kitchens in New Jersey before becoming homeless.
He told the newspaper he had moved to New York about 10 years ago and had been living on the streets for most of that time.
During rained, he often seeks refuge on a train, he said.
The New York Times reports Mr Hillman has two children - Nikita, 22, and Jeffrey, 24 - but has had little contact with them since a visit three years ago.
He was reluctant to talk about how he ended up on the streets. After a long pause, he shook his head and said, "I don’t know," according to the report.
Meanwhile, Mr Hillman's family say they had no idea the vagrant in the touching photograph that made headlines around the world was their relative.
Jeffrey Hillman's brother Kirk was stunned when he read about the tourist's photograph of New York City police officer Lawrence DePrimo giving new all-weather boots and thermal socks to a barefoot homeless man in Times Square.
Kirk and his wife Tish told The New York Post they didn't recognise the bedraggled man in the photo and had no idea the homeless man was Kirk's brother Jeffrey.
"The last time we heard from him was maybe a year ago on New Year’s Day," sister-in-law Tish Hillman said. "Once a year, he calls us to let us know he's OK."
The three Hillman brothers grew up in New Jersey with Kirk and younger sibling Alfred both graduating from college before moving into white-collar professions.
Neither brother heard much from Jeffrey who they say has been poor for years, unemployed since the 1980s and was declared bankrupt in 1993. While his brother were forging careers in academia, Jeffrey moved around New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, recently staying in homeless shelters in Harlem and Hell's Kitchen.
Jeffrey's friends told the Post he's always on the move and often buys vodka from a store on 9th Avenue in New York, though he hasn't been seen much lately.
Jeffrey's family insist that they never shut the door on him and he knows he always has a place to say if he needs it.
"Jeffrey has his own life, and he has chosen that life, but he knows that our hearts and home are always open to him," his niece Alegra Hall said.
"He knows that, he's well aware of that."
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says his staff have not been in touch with Jeffrey since Officer DePrimo kindly gave Jeffrey the boots on a cold night.
"We're not looking for him," Kelly added. "He has shoes now. He’s much more difficult to spot."
Officer DePrimo last week told Newsday that Jeffrey "smiled from ear to ear" after getting the boots.
"It was like you gave him a million dollars," he added.
The 25-year-old told The New York Times that he keeps the receipt for the boots in his vest to remind him "that sometimes people have it worse".
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/koOuEqulFwo?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>
