It was Christmas Day, and sheriff’s deputy Lt. Kevin Smalls was already on patrol.
About 6 a.m., he saw a man walking on Highway 15 and he heard a voice saying, “I’m going to help this man later.” He didn’t think much about it at the time. There are frequently pedestrians around.
Then later that day, he was coming back from a call and saw the same man at the intersection of Industrial Road and Highway 15. “There was this guy, just walking,” he said. So he decided to stop.
Smalls introduced himself, and asked the man where he was going. Turns out, the man, Joey Brown, was walking home — from Ft. Myers, Fla., to Hampton, Va., hoping to get home by New Year’s. Brown told Smalls he’d left the Sunday before Christmas, hitched some rides, but mostly just walked. Another officer had given him a ride nearby and he had just managed to get to Walterboro. He was tired, slept for a while at a local church, then started walking again.
Smalls decided to offer Brown a ride to the county line. But then he heard that voice again. It said “You need to help this guy get home,” Smalls said. He looked on his cell phone, and there on the screen was an ad for bus tickets — the perfect solution. Smalls took the man to the bus station.
When they got there, Brown thanked him for taking him, but said he didn’t have any money, so he’d just keep walking. But Smalls wasn’t going to be deterred from his mission. He bought Brown a ticket to Hampton, Va., with his personal money.
“I wanted to get him home, back to Hampton, Va.” The bus didn’t leave until 9 p.m., and it was 11 a.m., so Smalls took the man to Subway to get something to eat while he waited.
“He (Brown) said ‘I don’t have anything to give you.’ But I told him just be my friend. That’s why I’m doing this,” Smalls said. Brown got home the day after Christmas.
“That’s determination,” Smalls said. “He didn’t know how it was going to happen. He just went on faith. And he got there.”
Smalls didn’t say anything about the man to anyone, but then Brown sent a Facebook message to the sheriff’s office, thanking him. And the cat was out of the bag.
“You know, people often don’t appreciate that even on our worst days, we’re still better off than most,” Smalls said. “This was the best Christmas gift I gave.”
