St. Louis mom wants answers after photo of officer posing with her dead son surfaces
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MasterJayN100
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ElXtSZ6qQ
NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A St. Louis mother is demanding answers after a photo surfaced that appears to depict the scene of her son’s death.
Her attorney calls the photo: “hideous.”
On August 8, 2016, Kim Staton’s son, 28-year-old Omar Rahman, was found dead in a home in Pine Lawn. The North County Police Cooperative responded. The Medical Examiner has since ruled it an accidental drug overdose. But Staton says ever since her son’s death, she’s heard little from police.
“I really don’t know, actually, what happened to my son,” she said.
Now she says she’s hurt even more. Weeks after Rahman’s death, a photo, appearing to depict the scene of her son’s death, was leaked out. The date, August 8, was the date of Rahman’s death.
The KMOV reporter who obtained the photo chose to blur the body in the photo as well as the face of the North County Cooperative officer, since no wrongdoing has been determined.
He is wearing gloves, holding onto the arm of the body and giving a thumbs up.
When asked if she could imagine any reasonable explanation for the officer’s pose in the photo, Staton said, “No, because when they come to a call, they’re supposed to be there to help and protect, not doing what he was doing with thumbs up and a smirk on his face.”
Staton’s attorney, Antonio Romanucci, agrees.
“It’s hideous. The implications of this photograph are just astronomical,” said Romanucci.
He believes something isn’t right.
“I have seen thousands and thousands of forensic photographs, I have never seen a staged photograph of an officer next to a deceased body,” Romanucci said.
Now, he wants a complete investigation by an agency other than the Co-op.
“Who was there that allowed this to go on? Was there any sergeant involved? Those are the questions that need to be asked and that’s what needs to be found here,” Romanucci said.
Questions are now swirling, too, about how this photo got out. Staton says police told her their official crime scene camera had been missing for a time and that pictures were also gone.
“Had you not received that photograph we wouldn’t know this. We would never have known this,” Romanucci told KMOV.
North County Co-op Chief Tim Swope refused to go on-camera, saying that they were conducting an internal and external investigation into “the totality” of the situation. The chief has declined repeated offers to show him the photo.
“If the police department doesn’t even know how it’s been released, then certainly, that’s a problem,” said former St. Louis Chief Dan Isom.
After taking a look at the photo, he says it’s just unclear exactly what the officer’s doing.
“I don’t know why he’s raising his thumb in the air, I don’t know what he’s doing at that point, I can’t explain why you would be doing that in the photo, but certainly there are reasons why a person might turn a body over, view it, for signs of trauma,” Isom said.
Either way, the department, he says, needs to get to the bottom of it.
“The fact that the photo is out is just problematic, so even if you can’t determine the intentions of the officer, which by the photo, look questionable, you certainly are distressed and concerned that it’s out in the public,” Isom said.
He also says he has no idea why Chief Swope has declined to see it. “See it, talk to the officer, get all the information relative to why they were there,” Isom said.
Romanucci is now weighing a lawsuit against the Co-op to get more information.
“I think we should be investigating this together. I think the public needs to know about this,” Romanucci said.
Staton is wanting to know more, for her son’s sake.
“That’s what I am looking for, I’m looking for some answers,” Staton said.
A lawyer for the North County Police Cooperative (NCPC) threatened KMOV-TV for reporting on this photograph, claiming it was “stolen property,” and stating that “NCPC does not believe it is appropriate to comment on a matter related to 2 open criminal investigations.”
http://fox6now.com/2016/11/04/st-louis-mom-wants-answers-after-photo-of-officer-posing-with-her-dead-son-surfaces/
Comments
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Why is the cops face blurred out
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to protect the guilty
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His ass need to be dealt with he's wrong for taking a picture with this young man while hesRIP smh the nerve of these Pigs
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He's holding a dead body, playing and ? .
Need to start holding them to a higher standard. Zero tolerance for this. Pro athletes can't even scratch their ass but pigs can "accidentally" ? ppl and play over dead bodies. -
I hope he and the person that took the picture gets fired and made unhireable for any other law enforcement entity. I also hope that they overturn / expunge any case that he was involved in....? him and any one that defends his actions
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Anyone who doesn't like a cop playing over a recently deceased person is a cop hater.
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What about black on black crime?
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numbaz...80's baby wrote: »He's holding a dead body, playing and ? .
Need to start holding them to a higher standard. Zero tolerance for this. Pro athletes can't even scratch their ass but pigs can "accidentally" ? ppl and play over dead bodies.
Oooooohhhh ? !!!
You my ? for this post -
You may or may not be surprised what some folks do to entertain themselves on the job. Especially the medical world. Get a group u always work with and no loose lips, man the stories I've heard about coroner's and nurses would turn ya stomach. I'm not surprised at all.
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So homeboy "don't know why the guy's thumb was point up"
These ? are something else. I guess he doesn't know why the cop's teeth are showing while his lips are curled upward either? ? ? ain't nobody stupid enough to fall for that tricknology. -
soul rattler wrote: »So homeboy "don't know why the guy's thumb was point up"
These ? are something else. I guess he doesn't know why the cop's teeth are showing while his lips are curled upward either? ? ? ain't nobody stupid enough to fall for that tricknology.
I legit laughed at this post, especially the bolded. -
Despicable.
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Shaq said we should respect police
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He posing with the body like it's a deer
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The user and all related content has been deleted.
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Imagine the outrage if somebody posed like that in front of a dead cop.
I betcha HIS face wouldn't be blurred out. -
Allah_U_Akbar wrote: »Imagine the outrage if somebody posed like that in front of a dead cop.
I betcha HIS face wouldn't be blurred out.
you wouldnt hear the last of it -
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http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/north-county-police-chief-says-stolen-death-scene-photo-is/article_346e9020-a786-54cc-b5e9-fe44f6cc2d38.htmlNorth County police chief says 'stolen' death scene photo is focus of investigations
A photo showing an officer with the North County Police Cooperative giving a "thumbs up" while holding the arm of a man found dead in a home in Pine Lawn is the focus of internal and external investigations, Chief Tim Swope said Monday.
In a statement posted to the cooperative's Facebook page, Swope said the officer is positioning the dead man so a detective can take crime scene photos. He said the "thumbs up" was "related to his positioning of the body in response to the photographer's question as to whether he was ready for the photo to be taken."
Swope's statement says the department is still investigating the death and how the death scene photograph was "stolen."
The chief also criticizes the decision by KMOV to air a story about the picture last week.
In that report, a woman named Kim Staton said the photo shows her 28-year-old son, Omar Rahman, after he died of an overdose in August. She questioned whether there could be any "reasonable explanation" for what is happening in the photo.
In his statement, Swope says: "It is unfortunate that KMOV decided to air this photograph without any context, or the wrong context, for the sake of ratings."
So basically the Pig Chief is saying that there's nothing see here.. And this all just a big misunderstanding plus the pig in the photo smiling did nothing wrong.. Oh and the only real problem in this entire situation is the person who leaked the picture to the evil media.. Who decided to show it to the public.. Pig logic and reasoning 101... -
So they coming down on who stole the photo instead of the disgusting demon cop
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He said the "thumbs up" was "related to his positioning of the body in response to the photographer's question as to whether he was ready for the photo to be taken."
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I feel her pain but being black, poor and no connections ain't gonna earn her nothing but stress. The public would have 2 express outrage for something 2 happen 2 that pig.
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No surprise here.
Look at all the numerous photos of white people at lynchings smiling, posing with black burnt up bodies.
Cacs eyes was red in them ? , grinning.
True devils. -
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Im not surprised. I work in a hospital, we tend to do alot of dumb ? when no one's around but our peers