By Police1 Staff
NORTH COUNTY, Mo. — A photo of an officer giving a thumbs up next to a dead body is going viral after a television station published it last week.
According to KMOV, Omar Rahman, 28, was found dead of an accidental overdose in August. Kim Stanton, Rahman’s mother, told the station she has heard little from police since the death.
“I really don’t know, actually, what happened to my son,” she said.
The photo, dated August 8, shows an officer with the North County Police Cooperative giving a thumbs up with one hand, and holding Rahman’s arm with the other gloved hand.
Questions arise after photo of deceased man with officer surfaces. https://t.co/JamvPSxcGj pic.twitter.com/KtE7we2MI1
— KMOV (@KMOV) November 5, 2016
Stanton said the image brought back the pain she felt when her son died. She, along with her attorney, is asking for a complete investigation into the matter from an outside agency, according to the news station.
Antonio Romanucci, Staton’s attorney, told KMOV that during his years as a lawyer, he has “never seen a staged photograph of an officer next to a deceased body.”
The agency’s police chief, Tim Swope, responded in a statement posted on Facebook.
“The officer gave the ‘thumbs up’ sign 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 said in the statement.
The statement also said the photographer took a different photo once he reviewed the original and realized the officer was in the picture.
The agency also stated that they provided this information to KMOV’s reporter before the story aired, and that they “would not comment publicly on the photograph until our investigations were complete — into both the death and how the photograph was stolen.”
Romanucci is considering a lawsuit against the agency to receive more information.