Pubdate: Fri, 26 Aug 2005
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: John  Wilcox
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Note: Thomas Caywood contributed to this report.

DEATH IN THE GARDEN: PAL DIES AFTER JUNKIES SHOOT UP IN PLAIN SIGHT

I can't believe I saw him die right in front of me.

I had just parked on Charles Street yesterday  afternoon for a photo 
assignment at the Public Garden when I noticed three guys  inside the park 
sitting in an oddly tight circle.

I had my camera on the seat next to me, so I  took a look through the 
telephoto lens. One of the men was tightening a belt  around his upper arm. 
Then I saw the needle.

I started taking pictures.

I couldn't believe they were sitting there in  broad daylight in one of the 
most beautiful places in Boston, shooting heroin.  Families were walking by 
on both sides of them. Kids. A little girl walked by with a sun umbrella.

One of the men slumped backward onto the  grass. At the time, I thought he 
had only passed out from the jolt of smack.

I found a manager at the Swan Boats dock and  reported what I had seen. He 
said junkies had been an ongoing problem in the  park and he'd call somebody.

I went on to my assignment to photograph the  Sept. 11 memorial in the 
park. On the way back to my car, I found a group of  EMTs, firefighters and 
park rangers huddled over the man I had seen pass out.

At the park, I went over and told Ranger Lt.  Reginald Sampson I had 
digital pictures of the men shooting up. Sampson  recognized one of the men 
as a bystander.

He immediately cuffed the man and searched  him. That man - whom police 
later identified as Jose Luis Hidalgo, 40 - was  later charged with 
possession of a Class A substance and possession of hypodermic needle. 
Police were still looking for the third man last night, and  the drug 
overdose victim was not immediately identified.

The men I photographed in the park yesterday  didn't look like back-alley 
junkies. They were clean and dressed like working  people. One of them was 
wearing a roofing company shirt.

I watched the CPR go on for at least 10  minutes. I knew the man, whose 
name hadn't been released last night, wasn't  going to make it.

He was pronounced dead a few blocks away at  New England Medical Center as 
the swan boats full of smiling families and  tourists paddled on.

Hub drug-abuse deaths, the vast majority  of them due to heroin overdoses, 
soared 44 percent between 2002 and 2003 as the  city reeled from state 
substance abuse budget cuts, according to the Boston Public Health Commission.

"This is a very unfortunate example of the  scourge of drugs on our 
society," said Mayor Thomas Menino's spokesman, Seth  Gitell. "It is a 
public park, open to all, but the police always strive to keep  it as safe 
as possible."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman