A POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER, angered at the latest Rolling Stone magazine cover, has released images of the manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokahar Tsarnaev.
According to the editor of Boston Magazine, which published the photos last night, Sergeant Sean Murphy has been relieved of duty because of his actions.
Murphy, who is a tactical photographer and liaison to the families of fallen officers, wanted to counter the message of the Rolling Stone cover which he described as an “insult to any person who has ever worn a uniform”.
“The truth is that glamorizing the face of terror is not just insulting to the family members of those killed in the line of duty, it also could be an incentive to those who may be unstable to do something to get their face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine,” he told Boston Magazine.
His dramatic images show a bloodied Tsarnaev emerge, hands up, from the boat where he was captured in a suburban backyard on 19 April. A red dot from a sniper’s gun can be seen on his forehead.
The series also shows the teenager being treated by medics, after appearing to surrender.
Murphy hopes the photographs allow people to know the manhunt following the bombing was “as real as it gets”.
“This may have played out as a television show, but this was not a television show,” he said.
Officer Dick Donohue almost gave his life. Officer Sean Collier did give his life. These were real people, with real lives, with real families. And to have this cover dropped into Boston was hurtful to their memories and their families. I know from first-hand conversations that this Rolling Stone cover has kept many of them up—again. It’s irritated the wounds that will never heal—again. There is nothing glamorous in bringing more pain to a grieving family.
Photography is very simple, it’s very basic. It brings us back to the cave. An image like this on the cover of Rolling Stone, we see it instantly as being wrong. What Rolling Stone did was wrong. This guy is evil. This is the real Boston bomber. Not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
The 19-year-old is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction that killed three people and injured countless more on the day of the Boston Marathon. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. He has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges.
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