(photo: San Jose Mercury News)

It appears that Google meant no ill will when a satellite image of a San Francisco area street showed an image of a man’s slain son.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that Jose Barrera told KTVU-TV that he wanted Google to remove a satellite image from it’s Google Maps files. The image apparently shows Barrera’s 14year old son immediately following his death. AP reports that the image shows what appears to be police or investigators gathered around what appeared to be a dead body, that of Barrera’s son.

Barrera’s son Kevin’s body was found on a path near a railroad tracks that separate North Richmond and San Pablo on August 15, 2009. The death still remains unsolved.

The image of Kevin Barrera’s body appears in an overhead or satellite image and not one of the controversial Google Street View Images. Google has come under fire for some of the imagery it obtained using it’s Google Street View cars that have cameras mounted on the top. Google blurs out license plate numbers and people’s faces over privacy concerns. They also have a process in which concerned citizens can ask that a image be updated over privacy.

Because Berrera’s photo is overhead and not street view, it doesn’t fall under the same policy. However Google has acted swiftly, issuing this statement to the Associated Press:

“Since the media first contacted us about the image, we’ve been looking at different technical solutions,” Google Maps Vice President Brian McClendon said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case. We believe we can update this in eight days, and we’ve spoken to the family to let them know we’re working hard on the update.”