A police officer was pictured raising a rubber bullet gun
near a man carrying his little girl on his shoulders during George Floyd
protests.
Taken by photographer Richard Grant at a demonstration in
Long Beach, California, on Sunday, the powerful image has been shared thousands
of times.
It portrays the tension found across the United States at
the moment as Americans have taken to the streets to share their outrage at the
death of an unarmed black man, after a white cop knelt on his neck for several
minutes.
A number of policemen wearing protective riot masks stand on
a street corner, with several sporting the firearms that have been used to try
and quell protests in the last week.
An unidentified father stands close to the police with his
daughter, who appears to be wearing a superhero costume, with photographers
nearby.
However, after receiving backlash that a cropped version of
the picture was misleading, Mr Grant has taken to social media to defend it.
"First thing the photo is not fake," he wrote
on Twitter.
"It is not Photoshopped. What I saw through the viewfinder is what is
here."
He then shared the full image and an alternate view which
show the officer is not - as first impressions might suggest - pointing the
weapon point blank at the pair.
Instead, he appears to have raised the gun in response to
something happening off camera behind them, though still within feet of the
child.
Mr Grant captioned the picture: "A man stands with his
child in front of the police during demonstrations [on] Sunday in downtown Long
Beach.
"Police pointed rubber bullet guns to get crowds to
back away.”
In an Instagram post, the photographer added: "This man stood with his child most of the time until the police started using concussive grenades but they never fired on him but did occasionally pointed their rubber bullet guns towards him."