Police Officer Comes To Help Homeless Man Struggling To Shave Face While on the Street
On Sept. 11, 2019, the baseball game between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees was postponed due to rain, but just outside of Comerica Park a heartwarming exchange occurred between a cop and a homeless man.
Now the Detroit police officer is being praised for going “above and beyond the call of duty.”
Officer Jeremy Thomas told WXYZ he watched a woman and her daughter hand Stanley Nelson, a 62-year-old homeless man, a razor, some shaving cream and a bottle of water.
Taking advantage of the recent rain, Nelson found a drainpipe and tried to use the water flowing from it to shave.
After noticing that he was struggling, Officer Thomas approached Nelson to offer help but Nelson initially thought the police officer was asking him to leave.
“He had shaving cream on his hands, his coat, his face, his eyes,” Thomas said.
“I walked up and I said, ‘Excuse me, sir’ and at that point, he’s like, ‘Ok, ok, I’ll leave’ and I said, ‘No, do you need some help?‘” Thomas recalled. “And he turned around blindly and said, ‘Yes, thank you. God bless.’”
Nelson was incredibly thankful for the officer’s gesture.
“That was beautiful what he did and God is gonna bless him for doing that for me because he didn’t have to do that,” Nelson said.
“I really appreciate that because, you know, I’m going through my thing and I feel bad about myself, you know, but I’m gonna be alright.”
Nelson wasn’t the only person moved by Officer Thomas’ kind actions.
Jill Schafer was walking by as Officer Thomas was shaving Nelson’s face and was so moved that she took pictures of the heartwarming moment.
“I took the picture because I thought it was such a kind, unselfish thing for an officer to do,” she told “Good Morning America.”
She also told Inside Edition that Thomas had gone “above and beyond the call of duty.”
“He was genuinely helping out a homeless man that was using rain puddles to shave his face,” she said. “I just wanted to show that there are good cops out there and show them in a positive way.”
Although many people across the country are singing Officer Thomas’ praises, he shared the humble reason he decided to extend a helping hand to Nelson.
“Just know that this could be you at any day,” Officer Thomas told WXYZ. “Nobody is better than the other person. They may be in a better position in life, but use that opportunity to take care of somebody else when you can.”
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