WATCH: Man Exposes Panhandler After He Rejects $15/HR Work Offer

Ferlon Webster Jr. | July 23, 2019
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If you’ve ever been waiting at a red light at a neighborhood intersection, chances are at some point you’ve encountered someone begging you for money. Oftentimes, the same person is out there day after day. 

A Florida man got fed up with this and sought to expose the “art of panhandling” after his attempt to teach a “homeless man” how to fish — instead of just handing the fish over to him — was rejected.

"He reached his arms inside my vehicle, resting them and said, 'Hey, do you have any money?' I said, 'No, but I have one better for you —,’” Ryan Bray told WTVT-TV

Bray was approached by the man as he waited at a red light in his vehicle. The offer he made: $15 an hour to help him with some yard work. 

What did the homeless man do in return?

“He said, ‘Absolutely not!’” Bray said. “He started getting belligerent, cursing. Then as I pulled off, he kicked my tire.”

This incident pushed Bray to his limit, so he went home and made a sign to show people on the road what this homeless man was really there to do.

The sign read: I OFFERED HIM $15.00 an hour to do yard work for me and he refused. If we as a community stop paying them, they will leave our neighborhood.

“I mirrored him with my sign, wherever he walked, I walked,” Bray said. “I’ve seen a lot of people give a lot of money, and there’s a reason they continue to sit here.”

"I can't have my 13-year-old daughter and my wife driving with their windows up and being berated the entire time if they [panhandlers] don't get money.”

The panhandler returned as Bray was doing his interview with the television station claiming what he was doing wasn’t illegal. He was still able to secure a dollar or two from drivers, despite being exposed. 

Adell Erozer, executive director of the homeless assistance center Turning Points, told the station that some people are out there making a living off of panhandling.

“The best thing to do if we all want to get rid of panhandlers is to don’t give to panhandlers,” she said.

WTVT reports, the Bradenton City Council is expected to discuss the topic this Wednesday. 

H/T: The Blaze

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