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Police invite homeless musician to sleep inside station on cold night

Saxophone player

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — A homeless musician in Rhode Island found himself inside a police station Saturday night, but he wasn't under arrest.

Officers from the Pawtucket Police Department invited the saxophone player to sleep inside the lobby of the station after finding the man sleeping at a bus stop, according to The Associated Press. It was a frigid night, with a temperature of 12 degrees, not counting the wind chill.

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To show his appreciation, the man, identified only as Mark, played "On the Sunny Side of the Street" for officers.

 

 

Our officers came across Mark a little after midnight this morning. He was found sleeping at one of our RIPTA bus stops. The temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit not including the windchill effect. Our officers convinced Mark to come out of the cold and stay the night in our front lobby.

Mark explained that he has fallen on hard times, had some brushes with the law and is currently homeless. We noticed Mark had a saxophone with his belongings. Mark explained that he got involved with music when he was a child. He has played in numerous bands over the years. He occasionally plays in public and hopes for the best in the way of donations. Mark confided that his dream is to get work playing with a band again.

We asked Mark to play something for us. He played  "On the Sunny Side of the Street", such an optimistic tune. He gave us permission to post it to our Facebook page. Mark we're hoping you find the sunny side of the street.

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on Sunday, March 5, 2017.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.