An Act of Kindness: Reaching Out to the Homeless

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REPORTER: Look at the pictures of what happened on the night of November 14. He saw a man, a barefoot man, homeless with no shoes on a very cold night. He went inside, bought him brand new boots.

Those pictures right now have rippled all across the world. And Officer Larry DiPrimo is here with us, right now. And this has gone everywhere, 500,000 likes on Facebook, millions of views. You couldn't have imagined that that quite act of kindness was going to be seen all around the world.

LARRY DIPRIMO: I really didn't. It was surprising to me. I was sitting home, eating dinner with my family when I had first noticed a friend brought it to my attention. And he said, it's viral, online. And you look and there's thousands of comments and likes. And it's a powerful thing.

REPORTER: It is. And it happened right here, right here on this corner, on the night, as I said, of November 14. There are thousands of homeless people all across New York City every night. What was it about this man that moved you?

LARRY DIPRIMO: Basically, when I remember that night, it was just extremely cold. And to look down at this gentleman's feet and see that he had no socks and when he told me he never had a pair of shoes, it was just—my heart went out to him.

REPORTER: And you went right inside Skeckers.

LARRY DIPRIMO: I ran ahead of him. I did. I had to jog a little, but I ran ahead of him.

And I went to Skeckers, and I said, listen, I don't care what it costs. This gentleman needs a pair of shoes. And they were able to help me out. And I brought him back to the location.

REPORTER: But you even went beyond that. A lot of people buy things for others and give money to charity. You actually knelt down and put the socks and shoes on his feet. That is the most humble and kind act.

LARRY DIPRIMO: It was a great moment. And I'm so glad that Jennifer was able to take the picture. I didn't know she was there.

REPORTER: You had no idea, right?

LARRY DIPRIMO: I had clue anybody was there. So when—the first thing I thought when I had the picture was I'll be able to have this for the rest of my career. But it was cold, and you know, I didn't want him doing it himself. And so I just knelt down I don't think anything of it. I just helped him put on the socks and the shoes there.

REPORTER: Well, you have set an amazing example for so many in this holiday season.

LARRY DIPRIMO: Thank you.

REPORTER: Thank you. And thanks for coming in.

LARRY DIPRIMO: I appreciate it. Thank you.