California Family Fights For Privacy, Relief From Cyber-Harassment

[Bob Hubbard]

This is disgusting....

Your Rights Online: California Family Fights For Privacy, Relief From Cyber-Harassment on Sunday April 26, @10:46AM


Posted by Soulskill on Sunday April 26, @10:46AM
from the little-to-no-recourse dept.
theodp writes "Just days after his daughter Nikki's death in a devastating car crash, real-estate agent Christos Catsouras clicked open an e-mail that appeared to be a property listing. Onto his screen popped his daughter's bloodied face, captioned with the words 'Woohoo Daddy! Hey daddy, I'm still alive.' Now he and his wife are attempting to stop strangers from displaying the grisly images of their daughter — an effort that has transformed Nikki's death into a case about privacy, cyber-harassment and image control. The images of Nikki, including one of her nearly-decapitated head drooping out the shattered car window, were taken as a routine part of a fatal accident response and went viral after being leaked by two CHP dispatchers. 'Putting these photos on the Internet,' says the family's attorney, 'was akin to placing them in every mailbox in the world.'"
Read More...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/195073/page/1

An investigation had revealed that the images, taken as a routine part of a fatal accident response, had been leaked by two CHP dispatchers: Thomas O'Donnell, 39, and Aaron Reich, 30. O'Donnell, a 19-year CHP veteran, had been suspended for 25 days without pay. Reich quit soon after—for unrelated reasons, says his lawyer. Both men declined requests for comment, but Jon Schlueter, Reich's attorney, says his client sent the images to relatives and friends to warn them of the dangers of the road.

 

[Thesemindz]

Disgusting. The officers shouldn't have shared the photos, and the people who recieved them shouldn't have passed them on. I can't imagine forwarding these images to anyone were they to arrive in my email.

Ultimately, the problem here is one of individual responsibility. If most people who recieved these images chose not to forward them, we'd achieve a kind of herd immunity which would prevent most of us from ever even seeing this stuff. Which, unfortunately, is about the best the family can hope for at this point.


-Rob

 

[IcemanSK]

They should be both criminally & civially (is that word?) liable!!!!!

 

[Archangel M]

Just to clarify...THEY WERE DISPATCHERS! The media is saying the guy is an 18 yr CHP veteran...well he works for CHP, but dispatchers are not police officers.

http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/psd.html

 

[searcher]

No matter what their position, they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

 

[arnisador]

The dispatchers should be fired and prosecuted, and sued.

What about the later harassers? I'd like this to be illegal, but it's "news footage" in some sense, and a single e-mail may not be considered stalking etc. They can probably be sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but is it criminal?

Edit: A web search turned up the photo in question, and it is truly gruesome. I won't even post the link.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I found the pictures.

California Highway Patrol policy and the state vehicle code forbids Police from distributing crime scene photos publicly. November 15 a judge in California ruled that the Catsouras family's lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol for allegedly releasing the accident scene pictures can go forward.

That case was unsuccessful in March this year but the Catsouras famlily are appealing.

I wish I hadn't.

 

[Thesemindz]

I thought about looking for them, but I was too afraid to. I know I couldn't handle it.


-Rob

 

[Tez3]

I thought about looking for them, but I was too afraid to. I know I couldn't handle it.


-Rob

I'm with you on this. I can't imagine the father's thoughts and feeling when he first saw them and his bravery in taking the case forward though i agree it's a hard case to prove.

 

[Jade Tigress]

WTF is wrong with people???!!!!! I'm outraged for this family. They lost their precious daughter at 18-years-old in the most horrific way and sickos out there feel the need to defame her character and send the gruesome photos to the grieving family???!!!! How can people like that sleep at night?

No matter the cause or reasons behind the accident, no matter personal problems or teenage angst, this was a young life lost in a most tragic way. I sure hope to God all the people who feel the need to cause this family even more grief are perfect in every way. I hope they have perfect lives and perfect children, or one day it may be them.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".

 

[Sukerkin]

I can't better JT's first sentence above. That pretty much says it all .

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Let me put it this way. It's probably the worst image I've seen so far on the web, and I've seen some bad ones, especially after having to review dead GI pics, knife fighting damage pics, and on with a gutter spike through a womans butterflied breast.
Yeah. These were worse.

 

[punisher73]

There's a reason why the most "free" country in the world has the most laws on the books.

People do stupid **** like this and instead of taking the guilty parties out behind a wood shed and beating them senseless with a garden hose, we as society will spend all this money to enact MORE laws to prevent dumbasses from doing this in the future.

 

[shesulsa]

Just to clarify...THEY WERE DISPATCHERS! The media is saying the guy is an 18 yr CHP veteran...well he works for CHP, but dispatchers are not police officers.

http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/psd.html

I was under the impression that anyone working with any law enforcement, medical services, emergency services or coordinating the efforts of these (which would, I think, include dispatch officers) must follow a code of conduct in keeping with the confidentiality of records. :idunno:

Anyone in the State of California have any info on that? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to keep your ****ing mouth shut when it comes to this kind of thing.

Let me put it this way. It's probably the worst image I've seen so far on the web, and I've seen some bad ones, especially after having to review dead GI pics, knife fighting damage pics, and on with a gutter spike through a womans butterflied breast.
Yeah. These were worse.

That had to be one of the worst head trauma photos I've ever seen. I hope the family is successful at getting them off the internet.

 

[Archangel M]

I was under the impression that anyone working with any law enforcement, medical services, emergency services or coordinating the efforts of these (which would, I think, include dispatch officers) must follow a code of conduct in keeping with the confidentiality of records. :idunno:

I'm sure there probably is. Our dispatchers have to adhere to the same polices as the officers. If CHP dispatchers have their own separate policies from patrol I do not know. Seeing that they were suspended (and one subsequently quit) it seem obvious they did violate policy.

I just wanted to forestall all the "how could a POLICE OFFICER have...." stuff I saw coming down the pike.

 

[Flea]

When I looked up the case, I accidentally glimpsed one of the photos on a faux "news" site. I'm not afraid of gore at all, but from that one glimpse I made a point of navigating away as fast as I could before I had a chance to assimilate the image. "Pornographic" doesn't even come close.

My heart really goes out to the family. What a horrible nightmare. I can't even begin to imagine the father's experience of opening that email. I wish them healing if it's ever possible. I hope the legal battle is cathartic.

 

[Bruno@MT]

I am not going to look at the pics. I don't share the morbid fascination that many of the sheople seem to have. Beating with a rubber hose and then a day in the stocks in a crowded square would seem appropriate to me for the persons leaking these pics in the first place. the people harassing the family deserve much, much worse.

 

[Flea]

One more thought ...

I don't think their specific legal battle will get very far. But It will probably lay the groundwork for other cases to accomplish more by setting small precedents and raising awareness.

It's an interesting irony that the near-release of Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photos produced an outcry that instantly revolutionized the public handling of such images. I had a friend at the time who was a medical examiner, who agreed with the new laws on principle but said that some of the restrictions made it hard to do his job. I wonder what difference it would make for this family if their daughter was a celebrity?

 

[Twin Fist]

I have seen the pictures, and yeah they are about the worst things I have ever seen, including stuff I saw in gulf war 1.

I feel for the family, and I am sure the state will pay whatever they get sued for.

 

[hongkongfooey]

Seeing the photos just makes you say WTF! They are pretty bad.