Good Samaritan: Ohio cop pays hotel bill for homeless family

When Tierra Gray and her two sons were evicted, Butler County deputy sheriff Brian Bussell quietly helped the homeless Ohio family. 

First Look

Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Bussell of Butler County, Ohio is being hailed as a selfless Samaritan after he gave a homeless family shelter, clothing, shoes, and food.

Deputy Bussell went out of his way to help a mother and her two sons after he spotted them sitting a particularly long time in a jail waiting room. When Bussell asked if something was wrong, Tierra Gray told the officer that she had been evicted from her home.

The officer called several shelters to try and find the family housing, but “Most of the shelters were overcrowded or there was a time requirement to be there and we were past that,” said Bussell.

Bussell preceeded to put the family up in a hotel for ten days, and take them to a nearby Walmart where he bought them immediate essentials – all out of his own pocket.

“He told me that he was going to help and that we were going to get everything we need taken care of, and I just cried,” Ms. Gray told WLWT News. “I was like, ‘Thank God, you are the angel I have been praying for all night.’”

“He’s the best,” Gray’s 8-year-old son Ziare told WLWT. “He’s like a friend to me.”

Even more extraordinary, Bussell did not tell anyone at work of his good deed. “This is a true act of kindness,” said Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones. “He did not tell anyone at work what he had done but the lady took a picture with him and posted it on Facebook. That’s actually how we found out.” 

And this isn’t the only recent act of kindness by local cops.

Last year, a group of St. Paul police officers in Minnesota, pooled together money to fund a hotel room for Kim Washington, a homeless woman, and her three children and two grandchildren. Ms. Washington drove her family from Florida back to her home state of Minnesota after she decided to flee from a domestic violence situation with her boyfriend. All 6 were living in Washington’s SUV in a parking lot because local homeless shelters were full.

“I wasn’t a big fan of the police, but them helping allowed us to view them in a different light and say, ‘Yes, they really do want to protect and serve,’” Washington told KMSP. “It was really nice.”

Earlier in September, Kentucky State Police trooper Joseph Ponder pulled over driver Joseph Johnson-Shanks, and when the trooper realized Mr. Johnson-Shanks was driving with a suspended license, the lawman tried to arrange lodging for the man and his three passengers, one woman and two children.

This incident had a far less positive ending. Johnson-Shanks took off in his car after Mr. Ponder’s offer, and later shot and killed the trooper after leading him on a high-speed chase.