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Created: December 25, 2002
Latest Update: December 25, 2002
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Backup of Homeless Say Thanks With a $3,000 Gift
By Associate Press
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Copyright: L.A. Times.
Included here under Fair Use Doctrine for teaching purposes.

Homeless Say Thanks With a $3,000 Gift
From Associated Press

December 25 2002

NEW YORK -- A police officer got a Christmas gift of $3,000 from homeless people who wanted to thank him for standing up for them.

Officer Eduardo Delacruz was suspended for 30 days without pay last month after he refused a sergeant's order to arrest a homeless man found sleeping in a garage.

In gratitude, organizations for the homeless put together the fund for the 37-year-old officer, his wife and their five children. Homeless people also contributed change scrounged from passersby, money earned from recycling cans and bottles, even a portion of their welfare checks.

"We just wanted to thank him by contributing however we could," said Joe Bostic, one of 30 former and current homeless men and women who announced the gift. "And a lot of us gave quarters, nickels and dimes."

According to police, Delacruz told his superiors in the department's Homeless Outreach Unit that he would not arrest a homeless man Nov. 22 because the man had nowhere else to go. The officer was suspended for refusing to comply with an order.

Delacruz's attorney, Norman Siegel, said the officer was back on the job Tuesday and was "very moved" by the response.

The officer and his family "specifically asked me to say, 'God bless everyone, especially the homeless,' " Siegel said. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights.