Homeless NYC man given shoes is not homeless

reply to post by Kryties


Do you honestly believe that he would admit to a reporter that he traded them for drugs? Trust me its not uncommon for them to do that. Thats why most won't accept food. They only want cash or items to trade for drugs or booze. When I was a user, my dealers house looked like a second hand thrift store, Hell there was even a closet full of clothes with the tags still attached.

double post

reply to post by caladonea


I have to say you hit the nail on the head, good on the cop, he showed that he is basically a good human. I like that :-)

As for some of the comments by ATS members, showing considerable narrow mindedness regarding selling them for drugs. This may be the case, does this view not this show you, that the war on drugs is false and it is time to cease the prohibition and stop the greedy and cunning from making money on regulating drugs.

Anti drug people need to wake up and get a life, prohibition only exists due to greed. From my many experiences Alcohol has far out stripped drugs when it comes to social damage.

reply to post by VoidHawk


Thank you!!

I've been on here since I first looked into this showing the photo is faked.
Telling the woman who claimed to have "taken" it is a cop communication's officer who's
bf or husband depending on the story, is a NYPD cop.
And ol DePrimo had NO idea it was being taken.
You could say that since this is not a legit photo.

I can't believe how people just accept these stories without any examination whatever.
The whole story kind of reeks.
Why would this woman have been 'friends" with NYPD facebook to just be able to post a story?
I didn't think an outsider could post on someone else's fb.
Can they?
They can only comment right?

Here's the photo analyzed for those who've missed it.

fotoforensics.com...

Original version.

www.abc15.com...

The reason we think the way we do is because of what our life experiences have taught us. Yeah maybe he did do the right thing and didn't trade them for something else but that would put him in the minority of people like him that do what is right.

reply to post by PaperbackWriter


The foto wouldn't be fake, it would be staged. Unless it is just a picture of a homeless guy and the cop was photoshopped in.

reply to post by GreenGlassDoor


The cop is photoshopped in and so is the shoe rack to make it "seem" like this was done in front of a shoe store.
Look at the photo itself. See the shadow under the guy's feet.
Now look at the "shadow" cast by the cop. And NO shadow cast by the rack.

Everywhere you see white in the fotoforensic analysis is where the photo has been changed.

I had told my ol'lady today that he most likely got shoes all the time.

Do you really think it was random that he was chilling outside of a shoe store?

Officer was played.


To the above post... The lack of a shadow from the rack is lighting, it's in a different spot compared to the cop and homeless guy.

Basically, It's being hit directly by the light source, their not. I see no evidence of digital altering such as out of place blocks.

Go grab a copy of Photoshop (by whatever means you can). Will give you true insight as to what marks a photo as altered.

Or crap, get "Gimp". It's free!

reply to post by geldib


You post this as if it shocks you. A homeless man with free rent and gov benefits? I saw that coming. He is just a beggar is all.

reply to post by PaperbackWriter


Explain why that makes sense to you. Why not pay a bum to pose for a picture?

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

I tend to agree that the 'Cop with a Heart' is the main focus of the story. After all, that is the part that isn't seen everyday. That's the problem though. Given the outcome, cops watch the news and read papers too.....it's not likely to be repeated again any time soon either. What cop in their right mind wants to be seen doing something kind for a homeless guy for awhile? I'm serious...if we're realistic to human nature, their fellow cops would give 'em 10 kinds of grief after the ending to this.

So I admire the cop and I hope he keeps that warmth he has to have done this....but the guy still could have been a little more informative as he accepted what was undoubtedly a meaningful amount of money to a new cop.

reply to post by samlf3rd


Not shocked at all. These days its very rare for me to be shocked/surprised.

reply to post by GreenGlassDoor


They have controlled the narrative about this story all along.
Could you not see this coming a mile away?

That the NYPD blue would choose a guy to give a pair of boots to the ONE guy they would come back and start feeding bad info about?

As, far as I'm concerned this has been a very successful psy-op the whole time.
Now Hannity can bleet about entitlements.
Now the homeless can be en masse swept from the streets and who will care?
After all, you've been given the impression they are all gaming the system.
And best of all, the cops come out smelling like a rose.

Every bit generated by a fake pic posted on their facebook page.
A person off the street as she claimed can not just post some pic she 'took' on their facebook.
But, she admitted on Hannity she is a cop. Her bf is a cop. This was of a cop.
I'll bet he's even the same cop as "dePrimo", probably not his real name. But, whatever, the Primo cop
sounds awesome for this story.

I always thought Times Square was a little busier than portrayed in their photo.
I guess that's why it's ps.
In real Time Square there would have been more witnesses who might have known what was going down.

The officer still did the right thing.

I'm starting to get mighty suspicious of the way these types of article are being handled.
Maybe it's just me, but why is it looking like the media is trying to make people look bad for helping someone less fortunate?

I'm thinking he is a pan handler as well. Likely doesn't have a job so to get some extra cash he's got to look as homeless as he can be. Brand new pair of shoes isn't going to give him much sympathy.

reply to post by geldib

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.

Well, that's an intelligent statement. You know very little about who this man is, aside from what the media tells you, and yet you feel fully justified in saying, "I bet he traded them for drugs." Not a shred of evidence that he's done so except for the missing boots. And yet you're willing to just throw it out there.

It almost sounds as though you think homeless people are automatically druggies. Yeah, you sound real intelligent. I hope you feel better now that you've judged a complete stranger.

havent had a chance to read all the replies but hopefully someone made the point about what great PR it is for NYPD and the "homeless" guy was probably a cop too!

noone thinks maybe the guy just doesn't like shoes? he HAD to sell them for drugs?

This certainly is fuel for the cynical and mean, and surely does assist in acclimating audiences to the denial of compassion towards the 'homeless.'

I'm really not sure that someone would go shoeless on a cold night, just to get some cash when he's got an apartment. Even a very serious junkie in withdrawel would have a hard time with that. But then you've got that naked cowboy dude, so who knows. Sounds like his benefits would have been enough for some drugs or alcohol.

He may have some serious mental illness. My own Dad, with savings and pension, nice car and all would be homeless if it weren't for my Mom looking after his arrangements, as he is now batsh*t crazy. Without Lojack on him, we would not be able to find him when he takes off his shoes and walks up and down some public stairway until he starves to death or something that that makes no sense whatsoever. Never did drugs or drink very much, worked most of his life, had moderate depression nearing retirement then psychiatry did him in totally. He was too willing a patient to take any and all drugs and ECT treatments they gave him, but never improved so all they did was add more and more until he was totally screwed up. He would've done way better living with some crazy religious sect or something. This shoeless guy could be similar, so please hold your judgments unless you've got evidence he's a scammer.