Early Monday morning, as shift worker Connie Johnson walked into the SPCA Florida, she noticed a tired police officer and an adorable sleeping puppy on a bench. The heartwarming scene instantly caught her eye and she had to take a picture.
As it turns out, Officer Kareem Garibaldi from the Lakeland Police Department had quite an adventure with the 8-week-old puppy overnight! Apparently, the officer narrowly averted hitting the puppy with his patrol car toward the end of his 12-hour shift.
Worried about the safety of the puppy running loose, Officer Garibaldi scooped her up from the streets and began scanning the neighborhood for her family.
After confirming that the Pit Bull-Boxer mix had no home, the officer took her home and fed her. He even reached out on to the community on social media to see if anyone recognized her. The very next morning, he drove her to the SPCA on his own time to get her checked by the vet!
But after 3 repeated 12-hour shifts and a sleepless night, Officer Garibaldi couldn’t fight the weariness anymore and ended up napping on the bench with the puppy by his side!
Later, the kind cop waited for over 3 hours while the puppy got her medical tests done. However, he didn’t want the little one to spend days at the shelter looking for a family. By the end of the day, Officer Garibaldi got the puppy settled with one of the dispatchers at the department!
The little sweetheart has now been named Hope, and she is one pampered baby in her forever home. Meanwhile, more and more people learned about Officer Garibaldi’s compassionate and selfless gesture toward the puppy.
It was no surprise that the community decided to honor him with the Hometown Hero Award in SPCA’s annual ceremony!
Click the video below to watch how Officer Garibaldi went above and beyond his duty to look out for a homeless puppy.
