Cop Who Saved Puppy Named Hometown Hero

Lakeland, FL — The Lakeland Police Officer who stole hearts across the country last month when he was caught napping with a puppy he’d rescued has been named a Hometown Hero by the SPCA Florida and U.S. Rep. Dennis A. Ross.

Ross presented Officer Kareem Garibaldi with the award during a Monday night ceremony.

“With everything that is going on in the world, I just wanted to do one small, little thing, just to try and make it better,” Garibaldi said during the ceremony.

That “small” thing turned out to be something quite big for the puppy, who now has a home. She also has a rather appropriate name: Hope.

Garibaldi and Hope were brought together when he almost ran over the little pup while working a weekend shift in May. The puppy, he said at the time, was running around a neighborhood with no collar or tag.

Hoping to give the pup a happy ending, Garibaldi launched an exhaustive search to find her owner early that Saturday morning.

When no owner could be found, Garibaldi scooped Hope up and brought her back to the police department for food and shelter while he completed his shift. That night, Hope stayed with Garibaldi. The two returned to the police department the next day. Garibaldi posted shots of the pup on social media and returned again to the neighborhood where she was found to try and locate the owner.

After working another 12-hour shift, Garibaldi gave up his search for the pup’s owner. Instead, he took Hope to the SPCA in Lakeland to be checked out. The SPCA and city have both reported Garibaldi waited patiently from 8:45 a.m. until noon that day to make sure the 10-week-old pit bull/boxer mix puppy received a clean bill of health.

At some point during the wait, Garibaldi, tuckered out from his third 12-hour shift in a row, took a cat nap in the reception room. Hope, it seems, thought that was a very good idea and followed in his footsteps. A photo of the two snoozing on a bench was shared by the city and SPCA on Facebook.

The viral celebrity Garibaldi earned after the photo went live was not something he was looking for, he said Monday.

“Honestly, I was not expecting this thing to go viral,” he said. “I’m a dog lover myself. Just seeing that puppy out there just kind of broke my heart. I just wanted to give it a fighting chance.”

That goal was accomplished.

Hope has since been adopted by another member of the Lakeland Police Department. The agency reported that she’s doing great and “has already learned some basic obedience commands and loves the other dogs she lives with.”

As for why Garibaldi was named a Hometown Hero, Ross offered this explanation: “Officer Garibaldi did something well above and beyond, and it’s that type of story that has to be recognized.”

Photos and video courtesy of the Lakeland Police Department