ODESSA, Tex. (KWES) – A photo of a Texas police officer giving a pair of boots to a homeless man has gone viral.
Since the photo surfaced of Corporal Jeremy Walsh kneeling down next to a homeless man and offering him a pair of his boots, he has been getting a lot of attention.
"It seemed like the right thing to do. I had something that somebody else needed that I didn't need," Walsh said.
Walsh said 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 frostbite and losing the front parts of his feet."
Earlier this month, Walsh noticed that A.J. had been without shoes for some time. A.J. used to have some steel-toed Dockers, but Walsh said those "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 said.
Walsh, who's also an Army vet, said A.J. often turns down help, but he eventually took the boots after the officer convinced him it was a trade.
"I saw him today," Walsh said. "He said, 'I haven't forgotten about ya.'"
A KWES reporter tracked down A.J. along 8th Street. While A.J. said he is grateful for the boots, he does not like all the attention.
