Sometimes I run into people I’ve photographed in the past under the strangest circumstances.
Jim Moynihan was watching “The Price is Right” in his West Roxbury apartment building Wednesday morning, when the show was preempted for local news coverage of a police pursuit on Route 128.
He fixated on the television as a news helicopter streamed live video of the chase along Rte. 128 and the off/on ramps in Needham and Dedham.
Moynihan started to recognize the terrain.
The footage showed the suspect’s heavily-damaged vehicle stop in a parking lot. A man exited and started to run.
A few minutes later, there was a knock on Moynihan’s door. He opened it and a man asked him if he could come in to his apartment for a few minutes.
It was the man police were pursuing in the chase Moynihan had been watching on TV.
He stood there and before he could say anything, the man took out a wad of cash and offered to pay him for letting him in.
Moynihan said he shut the door and locked it, later recalling that adrenaline took hold of him as he slammed the door shut. In recounting the story to me, Moynihan said he was not scared.
“Being a cabby in Brookline for over 30 years, you kind of get used to things like that,” he said.
It then dawned on me. I had photographed Moynihan before.
On May 10, 2008, I was looking for feature photos for the Boston Herald. Moynihan was driving his cab when he came upon a turkey in the middle of the street.
I had exited my car to photograph the turkey. Moynihan stopped his cab and stared at the bird for a minute or two.
I struck up a conversation with him while he waited for a green light. I remember he gave me his name and said he would be very excited if the photo made the next day’s edition of the Boston Herald.
See Moynihan today, and in 2008 with his feathered friend. More of my photos from today’s pursuit, including the burning vehicle and injured Walpole police officer Matt Crown are also displayed. Crown was dragged by the suspect’s vehicle as he investigated why the vehicle was stopped in a no stopping zone.
The Boston Herald story and a video can be found here.
(05/10/08-Brookline,MA) Brookline cabbie, Jim Moynihan slows and stares at a wild turkey whose presence, in the middle of the street, was delaying morning traffic
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. Jim Moynihan, a resident of an apartment building on VFW Parkway, talks to a reporter about his encounter with a man who led police on a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, and ended when the suspect ran into his apartment building and knocked on his door. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. Jim Moynihan, a resident of an apartment building on VFW Parkway, talks to a reporter about his encounter with a man who led police on a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, and ended when the suspect ran into his apartment building and knocked on his door. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. Boston firefighters arrive to put out a fire in the vehicle that was used in a long-duration police pursuit today that ended at the 1400 block of VFW Parkway. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. Walpole police officer Matt Crown, middle of photo, is escorted into a Boston EMS ambulance, after being injured in Walpole but continuing on a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, with Crown being dragged by the suspect’s vehicle as he was trying to stop the car. The car caught fire at the 1400 block of VFW Parkway. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. Boston police K-9 officer John Quinn is seen moments after a suspect was arrested in connection with a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, and ended in West Roxbury. The car caught fire at the 1400 block of VFW Parkway. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. A Massachusetts state trooper is seen near the remains of a car that was involved in a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, and ended in West Roxbury. The car caught fire at the 1400 block of VFW Parkway. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
04/27/2016-West Roxbury,MA. A police officer is seen near the remains of a car that was involved in a long-duration police pursuit that began in Walpole, and ended in West Roxbury. The car caught fire at the 1400 block of VFW Parkway. Staff Photo by Mark Garfinkel
