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Friday, July 22, 2016

Houston cop washes blind homeless man's feet, clips his toenails and vows to find him a home



Evidently someone at the Daily Mail screwed up here.

They were supposed to lead with this:

Black teen reading the Bible shot by white cop

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A picture of a police officer tenderly washing the feet of a homeless man is drawing kudos and reminding people of a gentler and often unheralded side of law enforcement.

Sgt. Steve Wick of Houston works with the city's homeless outreach program, and he spotted Quintus living on the streets a few weeks back.

While Quintus, 75, has always tried to work by selling newspapers on the street, he has lately gone almost blind with glaucoma and was having trouble even getting to the local thrift store to pick up clothes. 

The day that 23-year force veteran Wick and fellow officer Colin Mansfield found him and gave him a wash, Quintus had soiled himself, according to KHOU.

A photo snapped of the inspiring moment appears to have been taken July 19. 



The HPD shared this photo of Sgt. Steve Wick gently cleaning the feet of a blind, homeless man - the photo has been liked over 1,000 times on Facebook



Sgt. Steve Wick (left) has been with the Houston police department for 23 years, he now works to get the homeless off the streets; right, he appears at the community policing awards ceremony in 2015



The picture was snapped as Wick bent down to wash the elderly man's feet and clip his toenails, which had grown 'really, really long', Wick said.

So Wick and Mansfield soaked his feet to get his nails soft enough to cut. 

'To get the toenails cut, it will make walking around so much better,' Wick said. The officers also gave the man new shoes.

Wick then brought Quintus to a local sober clinic where he was able to take a shower for the first time in a long time.

'He was happy to get cleaned up,' Wick told Good Morning America. 'His whole life he's been minimally employed, selling the Sunday paper. He's got glaucoma, so he's about 95 percent blind.'

But the big-hearted Wick wants to do more than wash Quintus' feet and get him spruced up.

Wick's goal is to get Quintus a doctor's appointment to treat his glaucoma and, ultimately, to find him housing.

'Police have gotten a black eye in recent years, or months,' he said. But of the homeless outreach program, he added: 'It makes people feel like police officers are out there to help, rather than to hurt, and we are.'





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