Another NYC police story

Christopher D'Onofrio is a transit cop in the Big Apple. He and his partner watched a young couple approach a train station on Staten Island. The woman paid her fair. Her husband, Sangeeth Wijesinghe, jumped the turnstile to save money. D'Onofrio caught him and wrote him a ticket, but Sangeeth kept apologizing, saying he and his wife were jobless and could only afford one fare.

"I had a soft spot for his story," D'Onofrio told the Staten Island Advance. "He sounded like a stand-up gentleman." So Officer D'Onofrio called a friend who manages a market near the station and talked his friend into hiring the young man. After a few weeks of training, Sangeeth is working 40 hours each week as a cashier and another 20 hours of overtime.

Officer D'Onofrio believes getting to know folks is what community policing is all about. Sangeeth has a new job, and D'Onofrio has a new friend.