SF College Student Shoots Last Happy Picture of Causeway Victim

June 7, 2012

Close to midnight on April 14, the Palmetto Senior High School prom inside Jungle Island's ballroom was winding down.

Outside, aspiring photographer Nick Carlesi, 21, was waiting to pick up his girlfriend, a Palmetto student.

Strolling a parking lot behind the Watson Island attraction, near a boat ramp, Carlesi and a pal saw a homeless man with a beard-and a smile on his face.

What struck Carlesi, who attends Santa Fe College, was the man's expression.

"Here's this bum who has nothing and he seemed so happy,'' he said.

So he asked the "scruffy'' man, as Carlesi described him, if he could take his picture. The man said yes, and struck a pose.

Read the full Miami Herald article by Elinor Brecher