Homeless NYC man given shoes is not homeless

Homeless NYC man given shoes is not homeless

m.cbsnews.com

The barefoot homeless man who was photographed being given a pair of
winter boots by a New York City police officer on a cold November night
has actually been living rent-free in an apartment since late last year, the
city said Tuesday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well it seems that the homeless man that was given a $100 pair of shoes is not homeless and lives rent free, probably recieves government welfare too. I also read another news article where less than a week after recieving those shoes he was spotted without them on, walking around barefoot again. I bet he traded them for drugs.

m.cbsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If this man was on benefits and receiving free housing, why was he sitting on the street on a cold night?

I don't know, I don't usually give the benefit of the doubt, but that man looked genuinely homeless.

Just my opinion. I don't like to jump to conclusions.

Peace.

This is what happens when people become dependent and are just given things with no strings attached. Welcome to the future of America!

mobile.theroot.com/blogs/buzz/2012/12/04/barefoot_homeless_mans_real_story.html
Heres another article that gives you a better view of the situation.

reply to post by geldib


It says in the article that he is a veteran and is receiving veteran benefits.

Even though he is not homeless; and the boots are gone....

What really touches my heart about this story is that the N.Y. Police Officer has a big heart and bothered to care; and take real action in showing that he cared; by buying the boots with his own money. His heart is in the right place and he has good intentions. I am thinking that the man he helped probably has mental health issues.

Who cares the act of kindness by the officer was inspiring regardless he did not know if the man as homeless or not.

...the city said Tuesday.

NYC is run by a bunch of dicks. Seriously.

The touching story of a nice cop helping his fellow man was great. Now it is the story of some cop getting scammed by a welfare leech.

Which image serves to build a better society? Now everybody is going to second guess doing something nice, especially the cops! Officer Friendly there now looks like a fool. Betcha he'll never do that again!

Good job, NYC officials.

reply to post by hawkiye


Agree the media milking this and turning a touching and inspiring story into 'he is t wearing the shoes and is t homeless' leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Now someone who actually needs help has the potential to be overlooked.

I agree that what the officer did was an extremely nice gesture. My point is you can't help people unless they want to be helped. In another article he was mad because the news was using his picture and name. He wasn't mad they were using it, but because he wanted "a piece of the pie". He just wanted a cut of the money they were making off his story.

Here is the article I mention above.
m.usatoday.com/article/news/1742199

Originally posted by QUANTUMGR4V17Y
If this man was on benefits and receiving free housing, why was he sitting on the street on a cold night?

I don't know, I don't usually give the benefit of the doubt, but that man looked genuinely homeless.

Just my opinion. I don't like to jump to conclusions.

Peace.

edit on 4-12-2012 by QUANTUMGR4V17Y because: (no reason given)

Do you understand how much money one can collect in a day acting in dire straits?

At the mall where I live there is a nice looking nerdy girl with a backpack who looks as if she is traveling and she asks to for you to lend or spare a buck or two for bus. You can see her do this all day. In 10 minutes I saw her get change from 8 people. I was one of them, gave her 2 bux. You can make 60 bux an hour easy and many people do this for living.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Did he declare himself homeless, or did the writers of the article do that?

I went back through some of the earlier articles and it appears that the news agencies said he was homeless.

His family seemed surprised to find out he was living on the streets, but he didn't seem to specifically say he was as far as I've read.

He did say he's been living in New York for over ten years and 'MOSTLY' on the streets.

Did we all just assume he was currently homeless because he looked like a vagrant?

- Lee

Originally posted by caladonea
His heart is in the right place and he has good intentions. I am thinking that the man he helped probably has mental health issues.

He probably needed a pair of new shoes regardless.
He doesn't appear to be 'living it up' even with benefits.
I don't think the cop made an error in judgement.

I know of a 70 year old veteran who also gets benefits.
He looks and smells like he is homeless. He also is very cantankerous.

He had a nasty fall and someone asked me to go an pick him up from the hospital.
You'd swear he lived on the streets too, but he doesn't.

Like the gentleman in the article, he appears to have mental issues.

I do buy him things if he asks (juices newspapers, ginger ale) and I check on him during storms, but he always pays me back from the money he keeps in a sock.

- Lee

This is not news many people claim to be homeless and make 300-400$ a week panhandling.
It's sad really but in a city of 9 million there are plenty of suckers to take their bait.
I only give to the bums and rarely do that because most of them if not all spend it on booze.
I do give to musicians in the subway too whether they are homeless or not at least I get something back.

I remember one time when I was 17, I saw this couple and a dog asking for money at the Interstate exit ramp. I had no money so I thought about fixing them some sandwiches. That is until I realized how over weight they all were even the dog. So I knew they could not have been too hard up. Then I did the same thing to someone else and they threw the sandwich away still in the wrapper.

People give homeless people shoes all the time, I respect this cop for giving this homeless guy a pair of shoes but from what I read is that they don't want shoes so they sell them so they can get their drug of choice.

Here are some comments from reddit that could relate.
Link

"These shoeless guys are in every city. They don't keep the numerous pairs of shoes they're given every day, they ditch them within minutes. It gets them sympathy money"

Sympathy gets money remember.

Originally posted by geldib

I bet he traded them for drugs.

Wrong. An article I read yesterday said he was interviewed and said that he hid the shoes in a safe place because he could be murdered for them on the streets.

But nice of you to assume the worst, top notch stuff there.

All we got is a story pumped out by the MSM... can we trust THEM?

They tell us anything they want and we all start bleeting. Just look at the response in this thread, everyone in here has condemned this man based on news from the msm!

Do you think the controled msm would miss a chance like this? not likely. Look how everyone in this thread has formed an opinion - "Leech - welfare scrounger - I bet he traded them for drugs - people become dependent"
All that from a one sided msm story.

I thought the motto was Deny ignorance

Let me explain something to you guys, there is a lot of money in pan handling people.. About a year ago I had a travel job where I would run into hitchhikers. Usually I would talk to them because I would walk to a nearby truck stop and I would spot one and spark conversation. One time I met a guy, he was around maybe 25? And he told me that the way he got money was either telling people stories or making people feel sorry for him. Here is 3 of the ways he told me

1. He said he would go to say Walmart and go barefoot and have a cardboard sign that pointed down to his feet. Usually people would go in, buy him shoes and socks and give him a little money too

2. He told me when he needed money, he would go into say McDonalds and pretend he was going to eat something out of the trash. He told me he once made $180 for pretending to eat a french fry out of the trash and people felt sorry for him and took him to an ATM.

3. He told me whenever he wanted a hotel room, he would go sit outside the hotel and hold a sign saying he was cold. People would buy him a room and give him money for other stuff.

So trust me, it is very easy to make money off unsuspecting people.. I got it straight from the horses mouth