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A snapshot becomes an icon in the Gates case

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 22, 2009 08:54 PM

Bill Carter/Demotix Images

The image that flew around the world.

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

It started as a passing snapshot. But it became an iconic image of a story that everyone seems to have an opinion about.

William B. Carter was headed out from his home on Ware Street in Cambridge for his daily coffee and crossword puzzle at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square Thursday, when he saw a commotion four doors down.

Carter, a 58-year-old former manager at Bank of America, said he saw four police officers on the porch, and “at least six or seven police cars” in the street.

“So I grabbed my camera, because when you see police you know something’s going on.”

Something was.

Moments later, Carter snapped the only known photograph of a handcuffed Henry Louis Gates Jr. Carter said Gates was "agitated" as police led him off to face a charge of disorderly conduct.

“I had no idea who he was,” Carter said. “I just took one picture of him … and was on my way.”

That photograph has made the media rounds, popping up on television, including CNN, NBC, and CBS, and in such newspaper as USA Today, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and the Guardian in England.

Jonathan Tepper, founder of Demotix, a citizen-journalist website that hosted and sold Carter’s photo, said he is surprised the image of Gates has garnered such attention.

“I thought it was an interesting story—I knew who [Gates] was,'' he said. “But I didn’t expect it to get as big as it did.”

Thus far, the photo has earned over $4,000, said Carter, who will reap half of everything Demotix collects on the image.

After Carter took the photo, he showed it to his wife, who also didn’t recognize Gates. The weekend passed and the couple had forgotten about the image, until Monday night, as news of Gates's arrest spread.

But as they returned from dinner, they soon realized who was in the picture, and Carter found Demotix.

The incident has since been a talking point across the country, and Carter also has an opinion.

“I know he was tired and upset, but someone of his stature and education should be a little more understanding,” he said.

Carter promises the international attention won't go to his head. But he said the incident will change one thing about him: “I’m going to take my camera with me everywhere as best I can from now on.”