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He's the hero that Australia deserves, but not everybody thinks the homeless legend who faced off with a knife-wielding jihadi was doing the right thing.
Dubbed the Trolley Man for his shopping cart heroics, Michael Rogers, 46, social media into a meltdown over the weekend.
The makeshift crime-fighter's mobile phone was broken during the awe-inspiring incident and a crowd-funding campaign was launched yesterday by the National Homeless Collective to help him "get back on his feet". Already, it has raked in more than $ 100,000.
Despite the mainstream consensus that Mr Rogers is now a bona fide Aussie hero, a backlash from a small minority of cynics is growing.
One such cynic is Victorian Police's Graham Ashton commissioner, who told 3AW today that Mr Rogers' actions could have had dangerous dangerous consequences.
"I do not like to criticize people in that situation, he's acting instinctively about what he's looking at in front of him," Mr Ashton said.
"But if a trolley had hit the road, it could have had a tragic consequence.
"I think he was trying to support the police in his own way, so I did not have a weekend."
On the GoFundMe page for Mr Rogers, cynical commenters also pointed out that Mr Rogers could have hurt himself or a police officer if he had toppled over.
"I think that this guy was incredibly stupid. Brave maybe … but basically very stupid, and could have caused more harm by getting in the way, "wrote on cynic on the fundraising page.
"I hate these things that raise money for a single person in the first place.
"You do not fix homelessness (or this man's life actually) by throwing $ 50k at him personally."
However, Professor Clive Williams, a terrorism expert and visiting professor at the Australian National University told news.com.au he would have done the same thing in Mr Rogers' place if he saw police officers struggling.
"If somebody can help a police officer, then it's a good thing," he said. "The police are part of our community and I feel sorry for them.
"They are only young people, and they're in difficult situations sometimes. The danger is that, if somebody is not trained and they do not know what they're doing, they could become a casualty themselves. – goal I would not want to deter people from helping the police if they possibly can. "
Donna Salzberg, National Homeless Collective CEO, told The AustralianMr Rogers, who has had a long history of law enforcement.
"He got up to protect two police officers … we do not see that much, he just jumped up to any thought of concern himself," she said.
"There were dozens of people standing around and he was one of those who jumped in there and put his life at risk for strangers … he is the epitome of being a hero."
Mr Rogers yesterday told The Age he "just wanted to help and do something right for the first time in my life".
He said he was spending years behind bars for burglary and had a long history of drug use, according to the newspaper. It's understood he has a public housing apartment but chooses to be homeless.
Ms Stolzenberg said she was aware of Mr Rogers' crime and drug abuse.
"All funds donated to this campaign will go directly to Mr Rogers to help get back on their feet," the organization's site reads.
"He's a hero in our eyes and he can do it. He risked his own life that day for nothing in return and you can not put a price on that. "
The charity has gone out of its way and its way to the world.
"We do not actually have a set target to reach the goal of increasing the generosity we've seen so far we'll keep increasing the total accordingly," the charity said.
"We've gone beyond our original goal. Let's love for the sky. Our hero absolutely deserves it. "
