A man arrested several times in San Francisco's Tenderloin thanked the officer who took him into custody most recently and credits the cop for saving his life.
The SF Police Department tweeted Thomas Wolf's mug shot back in June after he was arrested again for selling and using drugs.
Last month, Wolf replied to that tweet, saying he was 8 months clean and sober and thanking Officer Robert Gilson for saving his life.
"I had lost everything. My family, my job," Wolf said. "I was literally living on Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin. ... I had lost all hope, basically. I wanted to die. I would just almost hope that when I used heroin or used fentanyl, that I just wouldn’t wake up."
Wolf said he's been married for more than 20 years and has two children, ages 12 and 10. Part of his recovery was a work therapy program at the Salvation Army's rehabilitation center.
Wolf and Gilson had a chance to meet Monday, a special moment for both of them. Gilson had kept in contact with Wolf's wife and kept his eye out for Wolf.
"It was pretty special to see that he was able to reprioritize his life and get it back on track," Gilson said about Wolf.
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"That's why I became a police officer, to help people, to see it come to fruition," Gilson, who works out of the Tenderloin precinct, continued. "Tom did most of the work, but it's pretty cool. I was able to give him the push in the right direction."
