A police officer faces firing for releasing this photo of Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev surrendering to police in Watertown, Mass. The cop was motivated by Rolling Stone's pretty-boy treatment of the fiend.
A "Save Sgt. Sean Murphy" Facebook page is catching on like wildfire.
"I just said to myself, 'You know, somebody has to stand up for him,' " the website's creator told The Post today, as the site neared its 40,000th visit within less than a day of going live.
The website is dedicated to the gutsy Massachusetts State Policeman who was relieved of duty this week for releasing gritty evidence photos of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — in protest of the pretty-boy closeup of Tsarnaev now on the cover of Rolling Stone.
The "Save Sgt. Sean Murphy" site — which urges leniency as Murphy's bosses weigh possible disciplinary action — features a mock-up of that same Rolling Stone cover, replacing Tsarnaev's glowingly-lit image with a photo montage of the faces of the bombing's victims.
"It just hit me very hard that this poor guy, Sgt. Murphy, is getting reprimanded and could lose his job," said the Facebook page's creator, a Massachusetts woman with ties to law enforcement who asked that just her first name, "Lisa," be used for fear of "all the crazies out there."
EPA
The controversial Rolling Stone cover.
"I couldn't stand seeing the picture of this slime bucket who hurt so many people -- I'm getting teary eyed just thinking of it," Lisa, who does not know Murphy personally, told The Post today.
"What Sgt. Murphy did was something all of us wish we could have done."
The magazine's glamorous cover photo of Tsarnaev is "an insult to any person who has ever worn a uniform," Murphy had explained this week in releasing photos of the "real" Tsarnaev -- bloodied and with the glowing red dot of a police sniper's red laser sight on his forehead.
A tactical photographer, Murphy had been unauthorized to release the photos he took of Tsarnaev as the scrawny monster crawled out from under the tarp of a boat parked in a Boston-area backyard.
But he did so out of outrage, and to set the record straight, he told Boston Magazine in giving them some 100 images. Murphy's duty status will be determined after a disciplinary hearing set for next week, according to Massachusetts State Police officials.
He faces anywhere from a day or two unpaid leave to termination. But many of those reaching out to Lisa through her Facebook page -- including some of his law enforcement colleagues -- are insisting that Murphy is a hero, and doesn't deserve to be punished.
"I'm getting support from England, from retired law enforcement, and confidentially from the State Police," she said. "I'm getting a lot of state police who are telling me, 'We're not saying he shouldn't be reprimanded, but he shouldn't lose his job.'"
"I'm getting people wanting to support his family or give him a job if he is fired, people offering free legal counsel," Lisa said, adding that the site is not accepting donations at this point, pending the outcome of next week's hearing.
"It's worth the fight to me," she said. "At least I can sleep at night knowing I tried."
AP
A sniper's laser is seen on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's head as he surrenders to police.
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