A Facebook user recently said she noticed a Chicago police officer buying a meal for a homeless man, and the Chicago Police Department has verified the story in a post on the social network.
The department said that Sergeant B. Hagarty, a 35-year veteran of the force who is retiring soon, was eating alone in the restaurant when he saw a homeless man “dumpster diving” outside and motioned for him to come inside, where he bought him food. That’s when he said a woman approached him to say witnessing the random act of kindness made her day and said he suspected it was the same woman, Rachel Mitchell, who wrote about the encounter on Facebook in a post that was shared by country music station Big 95.5 Chicago.
The police department’s post has been shared nearly 10,000 times since it went up on Sep. 4.
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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com