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NYPD Officer Gives Homeless Man Sweatshirt Off of His Back
“Boots cop” has some company.
A warmhearted NYPD officer on patrol near the UN gave a shivering homeless man the sweatshirt off his back Friday.
Carlos Ramos, who turns 29 on Saturday and works anti-crime and counterterrorism for the Transit Bureau, removed his navy blue Champion sweatshirt from under his coat and uniform and handed it to Robert William at around 9 a.m.
The gift comes a year NYPD Officer Larry DePrimo bought a pair of $100 Skechers boots for a shoeless homeless man on a frigid night in Times Square.
“He gave it to me. He said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ ” William told The Post moments later — still sitting on the sidewalk outside the Robert Moses Park dog run near East 42nd Street and the FDR Drive.
“I felt good about having it,” said the man, who also uses the name Johnny Davis.
When Ramos found him, William was sitting barefoot on the sidewalk because his boots somehow had gotten soaking wet in the 28-degree morning.
Coatless — and wearing only a white thermal undershirt — William had taken off his white Oxford shirt and was trying to figure out how to rip it in half so he could wrap up both his cold feet.
“No, it’s OK — I’ve got several of them,” Ramos said to his partner before stripping to his T-shirt and handing over the sweatshirt.
William said he was very thankful for the gift.
“I can’t remember,” he said when asked how long he has been homeless.
William said he had lived uptown at West 163rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue until a fight with a roommate sent him into the streets. His last job was working for a Denver meat-packing company.
As for Ramos, he and his partner took off in an NYPD van, both declining to comment.
Ramos joined the NYPD in 2007 after volunteering as a NYPD cadet and auxiliary officer, said Deputy Chief Kim Royster.
Republished with permission of The New York Post