A trio of New York City police officers were working on the Fourth of July when they stopped by a Whole Foods for a snack. Security guards at the Manhattan supermarket told Lieutenant Louis Sojo and Officers Esnaidy Cuevas and Michael Rivera that a woman was shoplifting groceries, but instead of arresting her, they gave her a helping hand. We found out about it thanks to a Twitter post from someone who was shopping at the time.
Sojo asked the woman what was going on and she told him she was hungry. He checked her bag and found food from the ready-to-eat hot buffet and after assessing the situation, the officers decided to pay for her food instead of arresting her. The woman was grateful and extremely emotional over their response and the officers say they didn’t expect their good deed to get so much positive attention.
Sojo said; "You know, I've been doing this for 22 years. This is not the first time I've paid for food. This is not the first time they've paid for someone's food," he said referring to the two other cops."We don't go out and do it all the time, but, you know, when you look at someone's face and you notice that they need you, and they're actually hungry. It's pretty difficult as a human being to walk away from something like that. We weren't raised like that. So, it's the right thing to do".
NYPD's Chief Terence A. Monahan said on Twitter. "Cops like Lt. Sojo and Officers Cuevas and Rivera of the Strategic Response Group are the kind-hearted cops who quietly do good deeds for New Yorkers in need."