Well done Officer Stacy!
The compassion shown by Officer William Stacy to desperate Alabama mother Helen Johnson captured the nation’s attention at a time of strained relations between the police and black Americans.
Instead of arresting her for stealing five eggs to feed her starving family, Stacy bought the carton and the touching hug they shared afterwards was caught on video by a stunned passer-by.
But it got even better when Officer Stacy and some colleagues arrived at 47-year-old Johnson’s home with two truckloads of food to keep her and her children and grandchildren fed through Christmas.
An Alabama police officer’s gesture to a shoplifting grandmother is going viral.
Officer William Stacy was called to the Dollar General store in Tarrant over the weekend on reports that a woman was caught trying to steal a dozen eggs.
Stacy told WIAT-TV he recognized the woman because he had responded to a previous call at her house and had seen her difficult living situation.
The store decided not to press charges, and Stacy decided to pay for the eggs.
“She tried to give me all the money she had,” Stacy said. “It was about $1.25. I told her the best way to pay me back was to never do something like that again.”
Helen Johnson, 47, told AL.com that her two daughters, a niece and two grandchildren hadn’t eaten since Thursday when she was caught stealing last Saturday.
“I’ve never been more grateful in my life,” she said. “I’m so overwhelmed with the goodness of these people.”
A customer recorded the incident, showing the officer hugging the woman in the store parking lot.
As seen on Your World with Neil Cavuto:
An Alabama officer caught a grandmother stealing eggs; instead of arresting her, he surprised her with an amazing act of kindness.
William Stacy explained today on “Your World” how he stopped a grandmother in a parking lot, who admitted that she had stolen the eggs.
“She told me she needed help, and that she needed to put food in her babies’ stomachs. And I couldn’t let the babies go hungry so I told her go on, park in the parking lot, […] bought her a carton of eggs and brought them back out to her.”
She started crying and apologizing for the theft, then gave the officer a hug.
Stacy told Neil Cavuto that the woman kept trying to give him all the money she had on her, which was about $1.25. He told her to keep the money, and said the only way to repay him was not to steal again.
The encounter – which was caught on camera – received a tremendous response from the public, leading people to donate food and other items to the woman.
“What I did, hundreds of thousands of officers everyday across the United States do the same exact thing. They even do more than what I did. I don’t understand why this video went viral the way it has,” Stacy said, adding that he’s grateful that the video has garnered such a positive reaction because law enforcement needs that right now.