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Crime-scene photo unsettling to some - photo of dead home intruder killed by home owner in Dallas
The Dallas Morning News ^ | January 25, 2003 | By JACQUIELYNN FLOYD / The Dallas Morning News

Posted on 01/25/2003 4:39:23 AM PST by MeekOneGOP


Crime-scene photo unsettling to some

01/25/2003

By JACQUIELYNN FLOYD / The Dallas Morning News

The large photograph that appeared in Friday's paper - the trade argot is "centerpiece art" - gave rise to a lot of discussion by virtue of having had a dead person in it.

The picture was taken outside a Far North Dallas home, where a resident had shot and killed two intruders who tried to break in early Thursday. One of the apparent burglars died in the apartment, and the other collapsed and died outside.

A photographer for The Dallas Morning News captured what is actually a fairly routine crime-scene scenario. A Dallas Police Department spokesman stands in the front yard, addressing the knot of reporters gathered there. A couple of uniformed officers stand in the background. Over the spokesman's left shoulder, in the distance, the body of the second burglar lies facedown next to a sidewalk.

In this case, the medical examiner's representatives had not yet arrived to record their observations, so the body had not yet been covered with the discreet sheet that is usually draped over corpses in news photographs.

Also Online

Suspect on the lam makes family uneasy

People are surely pretty used to seeing news pictures or film footage of covered-up bodies being wheeled away on gurneys, but a photo of an uncovered dead guy in the spot where he fell is certainly a departure from the norm.

And it caused a lot of debate, both inside the newsroom and out, which I think is probably a useful thing. Some found the photo shocking, not because it was gory or graphic (it wasn't), but because it so starkly depicted the discordant reality of violent death in an otherwise ordinary setting.

I wasn't especially shocked, but then, I have been to crime scenes. They usually involve a lot of standing around and waiting for somebody to tell you what's going on.

That isn't to say I didn't go a little rubber-kneed the first few times I saw a body not at a funeral home. It is the realization - that person is actually dead - that shakes you up a little, and that I think struck a lot of people who saw Friday's photograph.

The News, as well as television stations that ran footage of the scene, took some heat over the decision to show the body.


Editors for DallasNews.com, the web site of The Dallas Morning News, decided Friday to crop the body out of the photo before posting it online. Saturday, the paper's decision to run this photo with the dead person in it has become the focus of much discussion.
(JOHN F. RHODES / DMN)

"If that's 'cutting edge' journalism, then I'm out!" one irate reader e-mailed several members of our staff. Even one editor in our newsroom said he "couldn't stand to look" at the photograph because he knew the person lying in the background was dead.

Others, though, said they saw little departure from the now-routine shrouded-corpse-on-the-gurney photos. Some said they're more distressed by graphic written descriptions of crimes or injuries. Some are so hard-boiled they could probably look at autopsy pictures over their morning oatmeal. Everybody's threshold for the offensive or the prurient is different.

Perhaps I am out of line with the prevailing sentiment, but in truth I would have been a lot less comfortable had the photo shown an innocent victim of an accident or a homicide.

A picture of a lone shoe at the scene of a plane crash can make me weepy. Photos of hollow-eyed kids and even skinny dogs in the streets of cities wrecked by war and poverty sometimes haunt my imagination. Even the grainy battlefield pictures of slain Civil War soldiers convey a terrible sense of loss and tragedy after nearly a century and a half.

But, to me, a distant and not particularly graphic picture of a dead burglar - albeit an unconvicted one - isn't especially unsettling.

I'm not saying burglars deserve to be shot. But I do think this particular photo offers a grim, realistic glimpse of the damage crime and criminals create in our city every day.

In this case, the photo showed what any Far North Dallas passer-by would have seen.

It's not a photo from Tel Aviv or the West Bank. It's not a war zone or a dangerous, rundown neighborhood plagued by street gangs and crack houses.

It's an ordinary apartment house with a tree by the front walk, with two cars and a tricycle visible in the open garage.

Except for the police officers in the yard and the dead guy in the flower bed, it's a home and a neighborhood where any of us might live.

And that, maybe, is the part that's really so shocking.


Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/columnists/jfloyd/stories/012503dnmetfloyd.c43d.html


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 45leaddinner; banglist; bleedelsewhere; dallas; deadkitywhifcity; dirtnap; excuseme; flowerfall; flubontheshrub; getoffthegrass; gravelgrovel; headache; homeintruderkilled; idontfeelgood; jackass; newdemvoters; nosoup; notfeelingright; photoofbody; sandysleep; savethenikes; swisscheese; texas; thinmints; ventilatedperps; vestforsale; watchtheshrubs; wormfood
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If the Dallas Morning News decides to get 'PC' and kill the picture URL, I've uploaded it to my site:



1 posted on 01/25/2003 4:39:23 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
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To: MeeknMing
With the PC removal of all things unsettling, our society has forsaken reality for a good TV show. Now, reality just hit Dallas in the face and the so-called presstitues are all freaking out over a dead body of a home invader.

The entire story is now revolving around the presstitutes. That is a sad state of affairs for law and order as these punks, dead as they now are, were home invaders and deserved nothing less then some formed lead.

The homeowner should get a medal for good aim. The people of Dallas, and every other city in the USA should celebrate a win for the good guys.

But our 4th estate see's it through different colored glasses. The picture, they said, was too graphic? The reality is this punk home invader is not going to invade anywhere tonight.

Dallas is safer by 2, today.
2 posted on 01/25/2003 4:55:27 AM PST by JoeSixPack1 (Pre-owned Tag Lines For Sale. Cheap.)
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To: MeeknMing
A picture of a lone shoe at the scene of a plane crash can make me weepy.

Remember that guy who walked into the McDonalds in San Diego and shot all those people? He killed men, woman and children. His name was James Huberty.The most dramatic photo was the one of just a bicycle, laying on its side, with blood around it. No body was shown, but the picture smacked you in the face with with what this man had done.

3 posted on 01/25/2003 4:57:31 AM PST by PaulJ
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To: JoeSixPack1
YEP ! Thanks...
4 posted on 01/25/2003 5:24:19 AM PST by MeekOneGOP (9 out of 10 Republicans agree: Bush IS a Genius !!)
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To: MeeknMing
I woke up in kind of a bad mood, but seeing that dead SOB lifted my spirits considerably.
5 posted on 01/25/2003 5:27:26 AM PST by Mr. Mojo (The Godfather will be sporting some new jewelry this Sunday)
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To: MeeknMing
I find this photo absolutely rewarding

THE WRETCHED THIEF IS DEAD

6 posted on 01/25/2003 5:30:24 AM PST by chachacha
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To: MeeknMing
I hope that the picture really shocked all of those who are determined to put their life on the line by committing violent crimes. At least in those parts of the country where it isn't against the law to defend your family. Too bad these kind of pictures don't get wider distribution.
7 posted on 01/25/2003 5:35:59 AM PST by FreePaul
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To: MeeknMing
Gee, we wouldn't want to send a message to any potential perps out there that should they try something similar they may end up dead on someone's lawn. no, that might be too traumatic for their little psyches...
8 posted on 01/25/2003 5:47:49 AM PST by xsmommy
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To: MeeknMing
Obviously, this photo is intended to draw sympathy for the perp, and to illustrate how evil guns are in the hands of citizens. What would the perps have done if the owner had no gun? Would the Dallas Morning News show pictures of that?

Question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner and is running at you while screaming obscenities. In your hand is a Glock .40 and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

Liberal Answer:

Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that is inspiring him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me or would he just be content to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days to try to come to a conclusion.

Conservative Answer:

BANG!

Texan's Answer:

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click... (sounds of clip being ejected and fresh clip installed)

Wife: "Sweetheart, he looks like he's still moving, what do you kids think?"

Son: "Mom's right, Dad, I saw it too..."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Daughter: "Nice grouping Daddy!

9 posted on 01/25/2003 5:52:32 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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To: MeeknMing
Crime-scene photo unsettling to some

Only to the criminals

10 posted on 01/25/2003 5:52:33 AM PST by apackof2
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To: MeeknMing
This reporter seems much more concerned that burglars were killed in the midst of their burgling than that 2 men staged a "home invasion."
11 posted on 01/25/2003 5:53:18 AM PST by arthurus
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To: apackof2
Good gun control, he hit his targets.
12 posted on 01/25/2003 5:55:41 AM PST by heckler
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To: apackof2
"Only to the criminals"

And the cry-baby, namby-pamby, gun-grabbing, bleeding heart liberals who wonder why the owner didn't just wound them.

13 posted on 01/25/2003 5:57:12 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen
LOL!
14 posted on 01/25/2003 6:14:14 AM PST by Reagan is King ("Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?")
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To: Mr. Mojo
"...I woke up in kind of a bad mood, but seeing that dead SOB lifted my spirits considerably..."

I just hope the bastard didn't fall on that hedge and damage it's trunk by splitting it down close to the ground.

It takes a long time to get a nice little hedge like that trained, and a single incident like a dying thief stumbling and falling against it can split the trunk near the ground, which can open it up to a dozen different kinds of disease processes that will eventually require it to be replaced.

Couldn't that worthless piece of subhuman shit have died a little earlier, or fallen the other way?

15 posted on 01/25/2003 6:15:06 AM PST by DWSUWF
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To: MeeknMing
But, to me, a distant and not particularly graphic picture of a dead burglar - albeit an unconvicted one - isn't especially unsettling.

I concur. Good for the DMN.

16 posted on 01/25/2003 6:15:48 AM PST by sam_paine
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To: MeeknMing
Just out of curiosity, have any Freepers played "Thief: The Dark Project"?
17 posted on 01/25/2003 6:17:09 AM PST by Windsong
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To: MeeknMing
Editors for DallasNews.com, the web site of The Dallas Morning News, decided Friday to crop the body out of the photo before posting it online.

Interesting. Seeing the dead body would be a deterrent to others, right? I don't get this. By the way - What's the rapist's worst nightmare? A woman with a gun!

18 posted on 01/25/2003 6:17:48 AM PST by Saundra Duffy
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To: MeeknMing
I'm not saying burglars deserve to be shot.

Then allow me to do so. And, actually do so.

I don't suppose my suggestion of beheading burglars then putting their heads on a pike on public display will get much ink in the DMN, will it?

19 posted on 01/25/2003 6:24:18 AM PST by strela (You could look it up ...)
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To: *bang_list
Follow up
20 posted on 01/25/2003 6:51:35 AM PST by harpseal (Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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