NEW YORK — A tourist’s snapshot of a New York City police officer giving new boots to a barefoot, homeless man in Times Square has created an online sensation.

Jennifer Foster of Florence, Ariz., was visiting New York with her boyfriend Nov. 14, when she came across the shoeless man asking for change in Times Square.

As she was about to approach him, she said, the officer — identified as Larry DePrimo — went up to the man with a pair of all-weather boots and thermal socks on the frigid night. She took a picture of his generosity with her cell phone.

It was posted Tuesday night to the New York Police Department’s official Facebook page and became an instant hit. More than 360,000 users “liked” it as of Thursday afternoon, and more than 100,000 shared it.

The photo shows the officer kneeling beside the man with the boots at his feet. A shoe store is seen in the background.

“I have these size 12 boots for you, they are all-weather. Let’s put them on and take care of you,” Foster quoted DePrimo as saying to the homeless man.

She wrote: “The officer squatted down on the ground and proceeded to put socks and the new boots on this man. The officer expected NOTHING in return and did not know I was watching.”

Foster, who is a dispatch manager at the Pinal County sheriff office, said she’s worked in law enforcement for 17 years and has never been more impressed.

“I was just doing my job,” DePrimo told reporters later Thursday.

When asked about spending his own money on the boots, DePrimo said, “You just don’t think about things like that.”

He said the night was really cold and he was wearing two pairs of socks and combat boots. “My feet were still freezing,” said DePrimo, who was clutching cuff links he had just gotten from Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 11/30/2012