Honey Grove Police Officer Brandi Norris is being praised after a citizen took to social media to share how she saw Norris helping a homeless man, not only feeding him but cleaning and treating blisters on his feet.
“I don’t feel like I did anything worth all of this, but maybe from this, people won’t just turn a blind eye because someone seems scary,” said Norris.
Tara Laling, who was passing through the area, shared on Facebook how she saw a man “pacing back and forth, and spewing awful things out of his mouth” outside Dollar General in Honey Grove shortly before the store closed.
“He was clearly mentally disturbed or on drugs or possibly both,” she said. “I wasn’t sure to get out of my car or not, in seconds a Honey Grove Police Officer came up, and the guy took off walking away from her really fast, and I could hear her tell him to stop and talk to her.”
Norris said the man is a resident that is homeless and struggles with mental illness and substance abuse and he was having a rough night.
Laling said that while should couldn’t hear what was being said, she could see the man yelling at her while pacing in circles, however, Officer Norris never lost her cool and kept talking to him.
“This is why I am sharing this,” said Laling. “This officer went into the store and came out with a few bags of chips. She had him PB&J sandwiches, chips, bottle of waters, a Mt. Dew, baby wipes, band aids, deodorant and socks. While he ate, she put on gloves and helped him CLEAN HIS FEET and put band aids on listers and made him put socks on and put the rest in his backpack. I have never seen anything like it. Even though he was so awful to her, she helped him, which we don’t get to see much. She was outstanding in her efforts with this man.”
Norris said at the time he wasn’t doing anything criminal and “honestly, jail isn’t what he needs” and that she was simply just helping and doing her job.
“He walks around day and night and he was having a rough night,” said Norris. “I just wanted to get him some food and his feet were a mess in his broken down shoes. They were filthy.”
Norris recently became a police officer, graduating in December 2023, and is a five-year cancer survivor.
“I hope anyone that is trying to climb from the ugly trenches of hell, that you don’t give up…keep climbing and digging and hold on, because the light is there! I promise,” she said recently celebrating five-year cancer free.
Thank you for your service and all you do for the community.
