JOSEPH E. MAXTON
WESTFIELD – City police officers are expected to do their jobs but sometimes officers are able to do good at the same time.
Veteran police officer Joseph E. Maxton was called to the East Main Street Salvation Army store recently because a woman was reportedly soliciting customers for a ride and he learned from the manager that the woman was approaching customers seeking a way to get her purchases home.
The manager told Maxton that the woman had purchased a sofa and two chairs and was told that the store would hold her items only 24 for hours. After that, the manager said, the merchandise would be returned to the sales floor and again offered for purchase.
The manager said that the store’s policy is to make no refunds in such circumstances.
Maxton, in accordance with his duties, transported the woman to her home.
What he did after that was above and beyond his duty.
Maxton went to the Westfield Service Center of the Salvation Army on Arnold Street and spoke with the director, Gail Lagasse, about the woman’s problem.
Lagasse explained that the Salvation Army store is a program of the Army’s rehabilitation unit and is a separate and parallel program from the service center she leads which provides direct assistance to the needy element of the community.
Lagasse asked Maxton to advise the woman to come to speak with her.
She said later in a telephone interview that the woman is an immigrant, she thinks from Jamaica, who speaks only broken English.
Nonetheless, Lagasse learned that the woman’s vehicle had broken down and the friend she had relied upon to transport her new furniture home had ultimately been unable to help her.
But Lagasse was able to help her.
First, she spoke with the store manager and persuaded him to retain the furniture until it could be transported.
Then, she found somebody willing to help the woman bring her furniture home.
Lagasse said that the woman was thankful for her intervention and said “I felt good as she left” with her new furniture.
“She left God blessing me” Lagasse said “but it was Joe who did a very nice thing by having a little compassion for her.”
Maxton’s boss, Capt. Hipolito Nunez, the commander of the department’s patrol force, said that his is not surprised that Maxton went the extra mile to help the woman.
He said that Maxton’s years of experience make him “confident that he can help somebody so he goes out and does it.”
“Jeb (Maxton) is one of the guys who does (that sort of thing) quite often” Nunez said.
