College football these days is full of stories of alleged NCAA violations, failed drug tests and academic dishonesty, so this story is a breath of fresh air.
Four football players from William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., found themselves in a unique position Sunday evening when they entered a local general store that looked like it was open. The lights in Buddy’s Small Lots were on and the door was unlocked, so the four freshmen, Jelani Bruce, Anthony Biondi, Kell’E Gallimore and Thomas James, grabbed what they needed off of the shelves and spent a few minutes looking for someone to ring their items up but saw no one.
That’s when their good samaritan instincts kicked in. The group left their money to pay for the goods on the counter, and the act was caught on the store’s security cameras, according to USA Today’s For The Win.
According to the report, the lock on the store’s door had malfunctioned, and that’s why the group had been able to get in.
Marci Lederman, the director of store operations at Buddy’s Small Lots, told USA Today that police called her to inform her of the break in.
“My first reaction was, ‘Oh my god, the store has been ransacked,’” she said. But after watching the surveillance camera footage, Lederman realized the group had paid for everything they took.
“Our jaws kind of dropped,” she said. “We were like, wow, you really can’t prejudge people.”
Gallimore and Thomas both purchased items and waived their money at the camera above the checkout counter to show they had paid the price of the batteries and auxiliary stereo cord plus tax on the items.
Lederman turned to a local news station to see if they would run the video clips so that the young men could be identified for their good deed. The players eventually came forward and each received a $50 shopping spree at Buddy’s.
Screenshot via Fox News
