The more anniversaries that pass as a photojournalist, the more introspective and the more overlap of generations I photograph, sometime for good and sometime not.. This was from my first blog post ever...still holds as much gravitas as it did back in 2008 after my editors at the Daily Record came to me and said, “We want you and your staff to write a blog.”
I was coming back from a first appearance in Morris County Superior Court in June 2016 when court reporter, Peggy Wright called me over and asked, “Hey, do you know this guy?” The clip was from August 21, 1993. I recognized the photo but I'd forgotten the story. The article was about Demetrius Diaz who was sentenced to over 17 years for the murder of a Morristown man the year before.
As so many are, this was a senseless murder, and in a town like Morristown, NJ, it stood out in one of the most affluent counties in the US. A disagreement led to Diaz shooting Ricky Gordon five times, the last shot, while Gordon lay wounded on the ground. It was only then I realized the young man I had photographed that very morning, 19-year-old Demetrius Diaz-Bridges, who was charged with the beating death of Elizabeth O'Brien, a 49-year-old mother of two. I recognized him as the son of the man I had photographed 15 years earlier. It made me feel very old and very sad wondering if this young man ever had a chance. Ironically, Diaz-Bridges was arrested in Raleigh, my future home.
In 2012, Diaz-Bridges was sentenced to 40 years for the murder of the Jefferson Township mother, as of today, he’ll be eligible for parole in 2046. In court Diaz-Bridges stood, handcuffed in a beige prison outfit, and apologized to O'Brien's family. "I know it's not gonna make everything alright. I am sorry. Whether it's 10, 20, 30 years from now I hope you forgive me," he said. "I apologize. I messed up."
His father died in prison.