NewsWest 9
ODESSA - An Odessa police officer is getting a lot of attention after someone snapped a photo of him helping out a homeless man over the weekend.
NewsWest 9 got the chance to interview that officer.
It was an act of kindness caught on camera: An Odessa Police officer kneeling down next to a homeless man, offering him a pair of boots.
"It seemed like the right thing to do," Cpl. Jeremy Walsh with the Odessa Police Department, said. "I had something that somebody else needed that I didn't need."
Walsh is the man behind the badge and the good deed.
It's gaining a lot of attention on Facebook. The photo was snapped at a shopping center near 8th Street.
Walsh said the homeless man in the picture goes by A.J. and is someone he's come to know during his time on patrol.
"From what he's told me he was in Colorado for a good while," Walsh said. "He ended up getting frost bite and losing the front part of his feet."
The officer said he noticed A.J. had been without shoes for some time.
"He used to have some steel-toed Dockers," Walsh said. "They ended up falling apart on him. Well, I have some boots that I never wear because they're a size too small and they're just collecting dust in my closet so I figured A.J. could use them a lot more than I could."
Walsh, who's also an Army vet, said A.J. often turns down help but he eventually took the boots.
"A.J. had to do a little back and forth," Walsh said. "I saw him today he said, 'I haven't forgotten about ya.' I said 'It wouldn't be a gift if we were trading bro.'"
NewsWest 9 went to look for A.J. and found him along 8th Street.
A.J. said he felt the picture was keeping Walsh from his regular duties but he said he's grateful.
As for Walsh, he wasn't expecting all the attention.
