A police officer in London, Kentucky is saying his act of kindness to a shoplifting suspect is nothing special.
Officer Justin Roby was responding to a shoplifting call at a grocery store on Jan. 17 when he learned that the suspect was a struggling single dad trying to get some formula to feed his six-month-old baby.
The store’s loss prevention officer told Officer Roby that he did not wish to press charges against the man and Roby agreed.
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“Me citing him for court wouldn’t have done any good for him,” Roby told WKYT. “He’s already short on money, can’t afford formula, so me making him appear in court… He’s still not going to have any food for that baby.”
Instead of just walking away after giving him a warning, Roby bought some baby formula for the man and his son.
“As a police officer, it’s not black and white for us,” he said. “There’s a lot of grey, and you have to cipher through everything and you really need to figure out the whole story.”
Roby also stressed that police officers are just as human as the rest of the community and that there are lots of other acts of kindness that go unseen.
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