Shocking AP Photo Leads to Internal Investigation of Kenyan Police

AP photographer Ben Curtis recently captured a photograph seen round the world. A brutal and shocking image that has sparked outrage and forced Kenya’s police chief to launch an internal investigation. (Warning: Some of the content in the video above is graphic. Proceed at your own risk.)

In the short video above, Curtis, who is the AP’s acting bureau chief for East Africa, narrates the events of that day in Nairobi while his powerful images scroll by in a slideshow. Finally, the slideshow ends with the photograph in question: a shot of a police officer in full riot gear who looks as if he is about to stomp onto the head of collapsed man laying motionless on the concrete.

The image is undeniably powerful, and has led to a huge outcry and even a police investigation, but as Curtis puts it: “I was a little surprised by the huge response [the photo] received. It was just one out of many moments that day… a few seconds out of many hours.”

You can read more about the photograph and see all of the images Curtis published, including captions, on the AP’s Spotlight Blog.

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