New York Good Cop's Boots Gift Is Web Hit

On a cold night in early November a New York policeman came across a homeless man with nothing on his feet - and bought him a pair of boots.

The moment of kindness would have gone quietly unnoticed had it not been snapped by a passing tourist who then posted the photograph to the NYPD's Facebook page.

It has since been viewed almost two million times and attracted more than 20,000 comments. 

The hero officer was later named as Lawrence DePrimo, who told the New York Times: "It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man's feet. I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold."

He found out the unidentified man's shoe size, went into a nearby store and emerged moments later with a pair of all-weather boots worth $100 (£62). The store gave him a discount of $25 (£15).

The officer helped the man put the boots on and watched him go on his way.

Mr DePrimo has kept the receipt in his jacket since then "to remind me that sometimes people have it worse".

The photograph was taken by Jennifer Foster, who works in an Arizona sheriff's office.

"I have been in law enforcement for 17 years. I was never so impressed in my life," she wrote on the social networking page.

"It is important, I think, for all of us to remember the real reason we are in this line of work."