The family of a Manhattan man whose death is the subject of this week’s installment of a controversial NYPD reality show blasted the cops and ABC for planning to air a crime-scene photo of their loved one dead at the bottom of a sewer hole.
“We’re deeply disappointed with the decision-makers in the NYPD that allowed my brother’s unsolved case to become a snippet for the NYPD’s publicity reel,” said Shannon McGarity, sister of murder victim Kyle McGarity. “We think it could potentially compromise any modicum of justice we might see and it’s a failure to protect members of the community.”
The NYPD’s probe into Kyle McGarity’s December 2002 death appears on Tuesday’s segment of ABC’s reality show “NYPD 24/7.”
McGarity, 25, either fell or was pushed into a Con Edison manhole in lower Manhattan during a scuffle with his friend, Keith Masters.
On the show, witnesses implicate Masters in murder, but charges against Masters are later dropped.
A Polaroid crime-scene photo of a dead Kyle McGarity, sitting at the bottom of the sewer hole in 300-degree water, is shown more than once during the program.
His face is pixilated for the broadcast, but viewers can see his arms, legs and torso sitting in scalding water. His family, from Toledo, Ohio, wants ABC to drop the photo altogether.
“I think it’s insensitive, indecent and distasteful,” said Shannon McGarity, 32. “It robs my brother of dignity by showing disturbing images of his body. We urge ABC to take the high road and strike the painful imagery before it airs. The Disney-owned network should show something that promotes family and not something that rips it up.”
McGarity’s family has filed a wrongful-death suit against Con Ed and Masters, and is fuming that ABC has access to material that is now sealed by court order.
ABC has also provided wrong information about her brother on its Web site – he was not “boiled black” by the searing sewer water – and on the show, where the college graduate was described as a bartender, Shannon said. Kyle held a degree in psychology and business and worked as a waiter at MJ Grill for two weeks before his death, she said.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not return calls seeking comment. He has insisted ABC reneged on a promise not to make the NYPD look bad.
ABC denied any such promises were made. “We obscure the faces of murder victims out of deference to the victims and their families,” said spokesman Adam Pockriss. “We only broadcast crime-scene photos when it is deemed necessary to report the full story of a tragic case such as this one.”