Fighting Crime With Compassion, Crown Heights Shomrim Discovers That Suspected Package Thief Needs Medical Help

by CrownHeights.info

It was dark, it was late, and it was freezing, but when the call came to the Shomrim hotline that a person had stolen some packages from a Crown Heights building, the volunteers responded.

It was Motzei Shabbos and multiple Shomrim volunteers were around Crown Heights providing additional patrols during the Kinus Hashluchim when the call arrived.

According to the caller, a suspicious man holding Amazon packages was walking on Maple Street near Brooklyn Ave. Wearing a red jacket, the man wasn’t difficult to spot, and the volunteers observed him to see if he would commit a crime.

“He looked high,” one of the volunteers explained. “Walking up Kingston Ave and stopping every now and then and spacing out.”

But when the volunteers looked closer, they discovered something else.

In the freezing weather, the man was not acting correctly, ignoring the cold and spending periods simply “spaced out”. Suspecting something was wrong, they approached the man and discovered he was having a medical episode.

Disoriented and still wearing a hospital bracelet, the man was unable to provide even the most basic of information, alarming the volunteers with the severity of the situation.

“Compassion ruled last night,” a Shomrim volunteer said. “He’d have frozen to death.”

911 was called, and the man, who was suspected of having seizures, was transported to the hospital, with the Paramedics commending the Shomrim volunteers for their correct assessment of the situation.

Understanding that he was not a criminal, but a man having a medical emergency, the volunteers opted to return the packages the man was holding, returning them to the addresses labeled on the package.