# NY Cop Buys Boots for Homeless Man **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716 "2012-12-02T00:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/41 "2012-12-05T14:35:04Z")
[Not homeless (or rather chooses to be so.)](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/homeless-shoe-guy-history-rejecting-article-1.1212779) Not condemning the actions of the officer or even the poor guy who received the shoes. Really its a tragic reminder of how so often the mentally ill do not do right by themselves or others. Over the years I have come to understand why jaded people have become that way. I try not to but it’s hard. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/42 "2012-12-05T14:42:16Z")
Speaking as a jaded person, just because Times Square has been re-built as a Disney attraction doesn’t guarantee everything that happens there will be Disneyesque. Props still to the cop, though: not for his morality, but for the “seeing things and actually thinking about them” attention to detail that prevents many bad things. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/43 "2012-12-05T15:03:43Z")
> [@2gigch1](#): > > [Not homeless (or rather chooses to be so.)](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/homeless-shoe-guy-history-rejecting-article-1.1212779) Interesting. But still, the attitude of the brother seems to imply that Hillman is choosing to be homeless, rather than being a result of a mental state that he can’t control. His exact words in the video were: “I would pray that my brother…can be moved in his heart to want to change his life” and “You can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink” sounds like he is blaming his brother, not having sympathy for him. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/44 "2012-12-05T15:11:38Z")
It does sound like his “Elder” brother is more concerned with his brother praying his way back to God and fairly unconcerned about the much more likely mental health issues. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/45 "2012-12-05T15:28:05Z")
> [@Endemic](#): > > Interesting. But still, the attitude of the brother seems to imply that Hillman is choosing to be homeless, rather than being a result of a mental state that he can’t control. I think you are reading a lot into this situation and there isn’t much of a basis for that reading. If the family has never tried to help him in the past, that’d be heartless. But I think it’s more likely they’ve tried to help and have long since come to understand that they can’t make him do anything. They can’t grab him off the streets, they can’t force him into a mental hospital, and they can’t force him to go live in the housing he’s been assigned. What are they supposed to do? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/46 "2012-12-05T15:36:18Z")
I was going to say maybe something like [Kendra’s Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendra's_Law) could help here, but after reading about it I can see how it still wouldn’t help this guy. ---
**Author:** ![kp\_72110](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e68b1a/32.png) [@kp\_72110](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kp_72110)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716/47 "2012-12-06T04:15:47Z")
The man is not homeless and he has 3 sources of income. He does have an apartment. I have been homeless and I have known lots of people that panhandle. The ones I know get their disability and ssdi on the 1st and the 3rd. It is gone within a few days spent on motels and drugs and alcohol. Then it’s time to panhandle and live the rest of the month usually sleeping outside and panhandling enough to get the drug of choice for the day. Mostly alcohol. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-cop-buys-boots-for-homeless-man/642716.md?page=2)