No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Man Gives 75 Cents to Homeless Person, Ends Up in Handcuffs

A man was handcuffed and detained for over an hour after giving a homeless man 75 cents.

Greg Snider was driving in downtown Houston when he pulled into a parking lot to take a business call.  A homeless man approached his car and asked him for money:

“That’s when the homeless man came up to me. He said, ‘Hey my name is Dave. I’m from Dallas. I’m down on my luck. Do you have any change?'”

Snider gave the man 75 cents and drove away. After he pulled onto I-10, a police car with flashing lights and sirens blazing appeared behind him.

“I put my hazards on to let him know, ‘Hey, I see you,'” said Snider. “This is a really bad part of I-10 to be pulled over on, so I was trying to find a safe place to pull over.”

He was not prepared for what happened when the officer approached his car:

“He’s screaming. He’s yelling. He’s telling me to get out of the car. He’s telling me to put my hands on the hood,” said Snider.

Snider said the cop pulled him out of the car, threw him in handcuffs, and put him in the back of the police car. He said 10 more police cars quickly arrived on the scene.

“They’re like, ‘We saw you downtown. We saw what you did,'” said Snider. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? I gave a homeless man 75 cents.'”

The officer accused Snider of giving the homeless man drugs and asked to search his car. Snider consented to the search, and drug-sniffing dogs were brought in.

After spending an hour cuffed in the back of the officer’s car, Snider was told no drugs were found and he was free to leave:

“He said everything was a misunderstanding and that I was free to go,” said Snider.

Apparently the officers found the situation amusing. Snider said they were laughing about it, but he doesn’t find the incident funny at all – the dogs damaged the interior of his car.

Snider has filed a complaint with the police Internal Affairs Department.  Local 2 news contacted Houston police, and a spokesperson confirmed that the complaint was filed, but could not comment.