Almost every day for years, Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Swalwell has noticed a desperate homeless man begging for small change. Deputy Swalwell kept feeling concerned for the man and decided he had better take action, after all these years.
Because Swalwell didn’t want the man getting run over by a car, he decided he should write the man a ticket to scare him away from the lucrative panhandling spot.
When Swalwell asked the man for ID, the man, who identified himself as Michael Myers, said that he had none. Rather than get angry at the man, Swalwell instead decided to sit down and have a conversation with the man to see if he could help.
Myers had a difficult childhood and eventually found himself living on the streets for the majority of his adult life. He was completely disregarded by the people he once called his family, and friends, and even by society as a whole.
In fact, when he was an infant he was adopted by a loving family in San Leandro, California. Growing up he was easy-going, loved playing in the marching band, and had a nice group of friends. Unfortunately, things at home were less than stellar.
While Myers’ adoptive parents tried to make him feel like he was part of the family, not everyone was happy to have him around. His mother tried to be affectionate, but his siblings rejected him.
Despite his best efforts, his adoptive siblings ignored him completely. Eventually, Myers began to cut himself off from his friends and the outside world, becoming a quiet introvert. He often felt isolated and alone, and according to Myers, this feeling followed him into his adulthood.
While this explained why his siblings were distant, it didn’t help the situation. And then tragedy struck, Myers’ adoptive parents suddenly passed away. After their deaths, his siblings who never liked him to begin shut him out entirely.
Realizing he was never really family to them, Myers cut all ties and went out on his own. Now, he would have to survive alone and try to make a life for himself.
With no ties to anyone, Myers ended up taking a job as a truck driver. It was the perfect job for a loner like him.
He enjoyed getting lost in his thoughts while on the open road. However, it only furthered his social isolation. Unfortunately, the open road eventually took a toll on Myers’ mental state.
He ended up losing his job and with no other source of income, he lost everything. Before long, Myers was living on the streets with no one to turn to.
Myers would spend the next 30 years living on the streets of San Leandro, California.
He would play his guitar and panhandle in an effort to make enough money for a hot meal. Sadly, the locals didn’t take kindly to him and he found himself passed by most of the time.
Begging for money didn’t bring in enough cash to live off of.
As months on the streets turned to years, homelessness became the new normal for Myers. Hope soon diminished, and Myers believed he would live and die on the streets without a roof over his head.
Thankfully, fate had other plans.
66-year-old Myers told the officer that he had been a truck driver until he got into a bad accident that left him disabled. He spent a year in a wheelchair and another on crutches. When he tried to go back to work, first working in manufacturing and then food service, he quickly realized that being on his feet and lifting things caused him too much pain.
Myers said, “When you have a serious broken-back injury, you never really recover from it.”
Eventually, Myers lost everything and had to turn to begging to survive.
“He does it three times a day,” Swalwell said. “He’s not panhandling for alcohol or drugs — he’s panhandling to stay alive.”
Myers formed a routine in which he would beg at all four sides of the intersection as the lights changed until he had about $5-$10, then walk to the McDonald’s or Wendy’s nearby to get something to eat.
After so many years, begging for money and eating fast food had become his only means of survival, and it was his daily routine.
“He said, ‘You can’t go on doing this,'” Myers said of his conversation with Swalwell. “‘What’s it gonna take to get you off the street?’ I said, ‘Well, a government check would do it, but I can’t seem to get one.'”
In order to receive benefits, Myers needed a state-issued ID, which was something he hadn’t had in many years since he had stopped driving. So Swalwell decided to take him to the DMV rather than write him a ticket.
There, they discovered that he was no longer in the system. He would need proof of residency and his birth certificate to get an ID, both of which would be difficult to obtain when he lived on the streets and never knew his birth parents.
Swalwell again stepped in to help him get the necessary documentation. They got a letter from the local church attesting that Myers lives in the Hayward area, and a copy of his birth certificate from the Highland Hospital where he was born.
His birth certificate also contained another surprise in the form of a first name he had never known he had: Gordon.
Three trips to the DMV later, Myers finally had a California Senior Citizen ID card, something which he delightedly held up for a photo with Officer Swalwell. The photo of the pair quickly went viral on Facebook.
“I walked in McDonalds to eat breakfast, and the guys I usually sit with go, ‘Hey, you’re famous, man!’ and whipped out his phone and there I am on his phone,” Myers said.
As a result of Swalwell’s help, Myers is now one step closer to getting social security, and, as a result of his Facebook fame, even has some job offers!
Watch the video below:
Sources: OpposingViews, ABC 7 News