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."