Cop Buys Shoplifting Father Baby Food Instead Of Arresting Him

Instead of arresting a suspected shoplifter, a London, Kentucky, police officer decided to help the man with his purchase.

On January 17, 2015, the officer was called to the Kroger grocery store located on North Main Street. What he came upon was a man short on money who really needed what he had attempted to steal before he was caught by a loss prevention officer.

The cop, Justin Roby, said “it’s not black and white” for police officers, as there’s “a lot of gray” they have to “cipher through” in order to understand “the whole story.”

After realizing the man was in a difficult situation, Officer Roby decided to assist the man, who turned out to be a single father who had come upon hard times. The man had been caught trying to steal baby formula for his six-month-old son, who he had with him at the time of the attempted theft.

Kroger’s loss prevention officer indicated to Roby that he didn’t want to press charges and Roby agreed, WKYT reported. Roby indicated that “citing him for court wouldn’t have done any good” for the man, as 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.”

Roby then decided to purchase the formula himself and proceeded to give it to the man. Fox News reports he bought him several cans of baby formula.

The London law enforcement officer explained to WKYT that he’s “a father just like that gentleman was” and that cops are not robots, they’re just humans “behind the badge.”

“I think when [a lot of people] look at us, they see just the uniform and just the car, just the tools that we have on our belt. But behind the uniform, I’m a human being and I’m a person out in this community just like any of them. I have a little boy. I’m a father just like that gentleman was. We’re not these robots. There’s a human behind the badge.”

He told WKYT’s Garrett Wymer that there wasn’t anything special about what he did and that his fellow officers commit themselves to selfless acts every day, and that they’re just not always seen.

No charges were pressed against the shoplifting father in light of his circumstances.

Roby indicated that a lot of people are struggling and you don’t have to be a cop to lend a helping hand.

Highway Patrol officers in Ohio seized roughly $1.2 million worth of marijuana in a traffic stop, Inquisitr reported previously.

What do you think of Officer Justin Roby?

[Image via Wikipedia]