The story of a Hudson Valley homeless man who returned a lost wallet to police nine months ago just got twice as nice.
Kingston resident Hassell “Junior” Barber found yet another “wad” of dough on the same street and promptly turned it over to Officer Vincent Depalma on May 9, according to the Times-Herald-Record.
Barber apparently didn’t think twice about handing over the money: He hadn’t even paused to count it, News 10 ABC reports. Police are still trying to track down the owner of the lost cash, which they said amounts to more than $250.
Barber committed a similar act of kindness on July 21, when he discovered a wallet with $485 on Broadway and surrendered it to police. The wallet’s owner was eventually found.
Barber, though, wasn’t looking for praise – he just wanted to do the right thing, police said at the time. He even declined assistance from other good Samaritans who wanted to help him out after spotting his story on the Kingston police department’s Facebook page.
The homeless man may not think his honesty is anything extraordinary, but Sergeant Kirk Strand said he expects that most people – let alone those in a financial bind – would take the money and run.
“I believe with all my heart that the average person finds something, and they’re going to keep it and keep moving,” he told News 10. “Just that he found this money earlier in the day, and he wanted to turn it over. You’d expect he could use the money more than a lot of people, so it’s good to see that he does that.”