Omar Rahman’s mother wants an explanation. According to a report from KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis, Missouri, Kim Staton saw a photo of a police officer posing with her 28-year-old son’s dead body. To add insult to injury, the officer can be seen smiling and giving a thumbs up while holding Rahman’s limp arm.
Staton, whose son died of an accidental drug overdose in August, told Channel 4’s Lauren Trager that the officer’s behavior is completely unacceptable, “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, was equally disgusted with the police officer’s behavior, adding that over the course of his career he had never before seen an officer posing next to a dead body. “Who was there that allowed this to go on?” He asked. “Was there any Sergeant involved? Those are the questions that need to be asked and that’s what needs to be found here.”
Romanucci added that the implications of the photograph are “astronomical.” Channel 4 reached out to the police department in an attempt to uncover how this was allowed to happen, but North County Co-op. Chief Tim Swope was uncooperative. Though the officer is technically not breaking any laws in the photograph, Staton's lawyer filed a suit against the police department in an effort to uncover the truth behind the photograph and its subsequent dissemination.
“That’s what I am looking for,” Staton said. “I’m looking for some answers.”
