By Debbie Emery - Breaking Celebrity News Reporter

A rare act of selfless generosity that was captured in a single cell phone photo has had a young New York City police officer hailed as a hero, and now the guardian angel in uniform is speaking out about the heart-warming move.

"If I had to choose a few words, 'surreal' would definitely be one of them. And 'humbling.' It's an absolutely humbling experience that I'm able to go through this right now," New York City police officer Lawrence DePrimo told CBS News.

As Breaking Celebrity News previously reported, the 25-year-old officer was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered a barefoot homeless man shivering on the street near Times Square on November 14 and immediately disappeared and returned moments later with a new pair of boots, and even knelt to help the man put them on.

The random act of kindness may have gone unnoticed if not for a tourist from Arizona who snapped the heart-warming image on her cell phone and posted it to the New York Police Department's Facebook page, and by Friday it had already garnered more than 538,000 likes and been shared 197,000 times.

"I had two pairs of winter socks on and my combat boots, and my feet were still cold. And I was standing on West 44th and Broadway. And I had heard so