Pascagoula Police Officer Goes the Extra Mile

One Pascagoula patrolman’s story spread quickly online and through the community after his acts of kindness to a homeless man went viral. News 25’s Laurene Callander shines a light on this positive story here on the Gulf Coast.

Officer Torrey Hargrow received a call on March 15th about a disturbance outside Aaron’s Furniture off Highway 90. The Pascagoula patrolman arrived on scene to a homeless man lying against the building, saying he was physically assaulted and robbed. “We were able to locate some of the belonging on scene, his social security card and things of that nature had been torn up into little pieces. He gave us a description of the suspect and both myself and Officer Ladnier recognized the description and knew who the suspect was,” said Officer Hargrow.

The officers found the suspect carrying some of the victim’s personal items in a wallet and returned them back to the homeless man. “At that time, the suspect was arrested for robbery and we transported him to the police station where we booked him in,” said Officer Hargrow.

After returning the man’s items, Officer Hargrow took the man to a local McDonald’s to get something to eat and then dropped him off at a shelter in Biloxi. “If that was my 80-year-old grandmother who claimed this, I would want people to treat her the same way. I try to treat them how I want my grandmother to be treated,” said Officer Hargrow.

Officer Hargrow going the extra mile gained attention online and in the community, but he tells News 25 members in law enforcement go out of their way to help others constantly and he could not have done it without approval from his superiors. With society keeping police officers under a microscope, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a positive story. Lieutenant Doug Adams said, “You do it because that’s what you’re called to do. It’s not part of your job, a lot of it is just volunteering your time and it’s not part of your everyday duties.”