Down-and-Out Man Gets Unexpected Gift After Store Calls Cops on Him

Some things you just can’t teach in the academy.

On Saturday night, a New Jersey policeman was dispatched to deal with a complaint from a store regarding a man soliciting money, but only a warning was given to the man down on his luck, as well as a warm meal for him and his wife.

Around 9:30 p.m. on October 1, the manager from a food store in Hainesport Township, N.J. reported that a suspicious person was asking customers for money in front of his store and would not leave despite him being told to earlier in the day.

The man was asking for money to purchase chicken for his hungry wife and him.

New Jersey State Police Trooper Sean Wallace responded to the complaint, asking the man on the scene, “You’re just trying to get a little cash for some food, right?”

In a rough situation, the man had no money for his family and was apparently unable to reach his mother’s house lately. The last of his money was spent on Burger King breakfast for his wife and him that morning.

After calmly talking to and hearing the man out, Wallace who has two years on the job put him in the back of the cop car and told him to sit tight.

Then, he headed into the store, picked up and purchased a rotisserie chicken, retreated back to the car and let the man out, giving him the food.

“You head home, alright? I don’t want you back over here,” the officer said after handing him the bag containing the meal, to warn him not to loiter and get into trouble again.

The man, slightly stunned and smiling, responded, “Thanks, guys,” to Wallace and his fellow troopers.

“We couldn’t be prouder of this young trooper!” wrote the New Jersey State Police Facebook page. “Some things you just can’t teach in the academy…”

They even threw in the hashtag #Attaboy.

Watch the act of kindness unfold in a video captured by cameras attached to the officers and the police vehicle: