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Bronx Man Searching For Officer Who Helped Him Land Job Opportunity

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Usually it's the police looking for someone, but this time, one Bronx man is looking for a cop who gave him a lift to a job interview.

As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, 58-year-old James Roberts is looking for a police officer who helped him after learning he was lost on his way to a potential new job.

"They said airport, so I'm thinking airport," said Roberts.

But once he got off the bus at LaGuardia Airport at the corner of Ditmars Boulevard and Grand Central Parkway, he realized his mistake.

"I'm at the airport, find Calvary Staffing -- was I wrong," he said.

The actual job was for rental car companies near the airport and the interview was at a staffing company on 186th Street, about 6 miles away, Gainer reported.

"I'm actually crying inside because I want this job, I gotta be there at a certain time," Roberts said.

That's when a police officer saw him and asked what was wrong. When Roberts asked him for directions, the officer let him know how far it was.

"I said 'I don't care, I need this job, I'll walk there.' He said 'What time you gotta be there?' I said 'I gotta be there by 1. He said 'You'll never make it, get in the car,'" Roberts recalled.

The officer's parting words: "Last thing he said to me was good luck and God bless you. I said 'I owe you lunch,'" Roberts said.

Roberts got the job, and now he is trying to make good on that promise. But he can't find the officer.

Roberts said the job opportunity was important because he's struggled to find work. He said he's been applying for years, but he has a record.

America Works, an organization who helps hard-to-place workers, got him the interview.

"Part of the reason he got that job is just they were so impressed with seeing a police officer do that for him," said Dr. Lee Bowes, the CEO of America Works.

"He's about 6'2, very nice, puffy face, bald-headed like me, he's about 225 (lbs)," Roberts said of the police officer.

Roberts wants other to hear about the good deed, and hopes the officer will let him thank him in person. He said he looks for the officer everyday before work and on his lunch breaks.

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