Man Falsely Accused Of Being Boston Marathon Bomber Speaks Out
BOSTON (CBS) – He was falsely accused of being the Boston Marathon bomber. His picture was plastered on the New York Post, one of the most well-known newspapers in the United States. Years after the bombings, he is finally telling his story.
Salah Barhoum likes the front row of his freshman business class at Fitchburg State University.
"If you want to be successful then you got to put in the work, you got to stay motivated, you got to stay humble," Barhoum says.
But for this immigrant from Morocco the incident that spawned this belief was a nightmare, one for which he has now found a positive frame.
"It was a great lesson to learn from, and it was something that motivated me to do better in life," he believes.
As social media sleuths combed through images from Boylston Street in the days after the marathon bombing a picture of Barhoum and his friend made the jump onto the front page of the New York Post with the headline "Bag Men." When the FBI went public with the Tsarnaev brothers Barhoum was vilified as a terrorist killer, but he still calls the experience the hardest thing he's ever gone through.
Barhoum recently told his classmates about this ordeal and how it nearly broke him. It was Professor Michael Greenwood who convinced Barhoum to share his astonishing story with more ears.
"All of a sudden in the middle of the class it dawned on us. This is the guy," Greenwood says. "And in the midst of all this adversity he chose peace instead of anger."
On Thursday Barhoum will tackle another one of his big fears, public speaking, when he tells his story to an auditorium full of fellow students at Fitchburg State University. Although he will not be talking about the money he made when The Post paid off his defamation lawsuit out of court, he will talk about the horrid headline that eventually made him better.
"If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today," Barhoum says.
And the next time he makes the cover of the New York Post he hopes it is as a business entrepreneur.