When a Massachusetts policeman saw what two women were trying to steal from a supermarket five days before Christmas, his situation touched his heart.
“It was all food,” he noted.
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So, instead of arresting them, he bought a $ 250 gift card to pay for Christmas dinner.
Officer Matt Lima of the Somerset Police Department said he answered a call at the local Stop & Shop and was told that the women were caught ignoring the scanner in the self-checkout queue, placing several items directly in their bags. The suspected store robberies were with two young children.
“I have two girls myself, similar in age to the two girls who were there, so that impressed me a little,” Lima told local NBC affiliate WJAR.
He was even more moved when he learned that the children’s mother had no job and that the food they were stealing was for the holiday dinner.
“There was nothing else there, like health and beauty items, shampoo, anything like that. It was all food,” he said. “I just tried to put myself in that family’s place and show a little empathy.”
The store issued the women an “invasion ban” order.
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Somerset police chief George McNeil praised the policeman in a statement that called the incident “a true testament to Officer Lima’s great character and decisiveness.”