The picture shows the lifeless body of an 18-year-old Orange County girl named Nikki Catsouras, who was killed in a devastating car crash on Halloween day in 2006. The accident was so gruesome the coroner wouldn't allow her parents, Christos and Lesli Catsouras, to identify their daughter's body. But because of two California Highway Patrol officers, a digital camera and e-mail users' easy access to the "Forward" button, there are now nine photos of the accident scene, taken just moments after Nikki's death, circulating virally on the Web. In one, her nearly decapitated head is drooping out the shattered window of her father's Porsche.[More]But God forbid you should take a picture of "Only Ones."
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.I can't imagine seeing a beloved child like that. I can't imagine soulless ghouls considering it entertainment. It is a perverted cruelty I cannot fathom.
How is it the state employs so many who not only can, but who actually get off on it?
[Via Ed M]
12 comments:
I'd be willing to bet that CHP Dispatchers are not sworn personnel - the "Only Ones" meme doesn't really apply in that case.
You obviously don't know what the "Only Ones" are then.
Now that the family has a couple of mokes to focus their rage and grief upon, I expect those guys will sooner or later be disappeared from the face of the earth.
Maybe they'll put some post-mortem pictures of them up on the internet, too.
i saw these. they were gruesome, indeed, but i can take it. i wouldn't mind seeing some of those CHP officers, now that you mention it.
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. "It was a cautionary tale," Schlueter says. "Any young person that sees these photos and is goaded into driving more cautiously or less recklessly—that's a public service."
what a load of crap. the media won't show them because it's gruesome and someone's kids might see and complain.
this guy wants to argue that friends and family, including their kids, need to see it.. because it's gruesome.
While the specifics of the Catsouras case are unique, the broader issue—of how current laws seem impotent when faced with the viral spread of malicious Internet content—is becoming a widespread concern.
aaaaand here comes the attack on free speech, piggybacking a tragedy! two loads of crap, one article! i am truly blessed today.
you think we could we expect any less from the media?
Might have been their way of justifying "why we're so tough on speeders. This is what happens if you don't do as we say. And if you try to do as we DO, we'll shoot you."
Hadn't seen your post yet when I posted mine, Jon. I've been accused of being psychic before.
Never forget, CHP was one of the helpful out-of-state police forces who sent gun and people confiscators to New Orleans.
I saw the photos too. I've seen much worse. The condition of the car, halfway up a bridge support, bent and broken and the roof ripped off, was enough to get the message across.
The most effective safe-driving message I ever saw was a movie with a sheet-covered body on a stretcher being carried from the wreck to the ambulance. The way that body quivered and jiggled under the sheet with every step left no doubt that death was recent and massively traumatic. Kids have seen everything simulated in those special effects horror movies. Subtlety can be creepy.
To put these kinds of photos of a person in their death on the internet is pure bullshit.
As I've been saying the degree of shit we are not getting as public servents is the worst trash on the employment market. These people are pure scum and the people who don't do their jobs and slap these pieces of shit down to make an example of them only prove that the whole system is made up of the same kind of scum.
I totally agree with Cranky.
People who make fun of other people's deaths should have a permanent laughing expression seared into their faces with a welding torch, and metal rods welded into the jaws and the inner cheeks, with a branding iron if needed, to hold the mouth open so the scumbag's face would be fixed in a everlasting laugh, for the rest of his or her life.
That punishment would serve the heartless douchebags far better than execution.
People who make fun of other people's deaths should have a permanent laughing expression seared into their faces with a welding torch, and metal rods welded into the jaws and the inner cheeks, with a branding iron if needed, to hold the mouth open so the scumbag's face would be fixed in a everlasting laugh, for the rest of his or her life.
That punishment would serve the heartless douchebags far better than execution.First amendment? Freedom of conscience? Who needs them! Anyone who drastically departs from your religious sensibilities should be tortured and maimed! With you advocating the return of the Spanish inquisition, I'm sure liberty is just around the corner. I'm not saying you should agree with the motivations behind spreading these pictures -- I'm saying you must not respond with violence or you become the evil which you claim to fight.
Responding with violence often merits the cessation of it. Vengence, may belong to G*d. Retribution is mine.
Defender said:
Kids have seen everything simulated in those special effects horror movies. Subtlety can be creepy.
One of my part-time jobs is working at a local haunted attraction during the Halloween season. You would not believe how jaded people are to gore. Subtlety is much more effective.
As for the morons who posted these pictures (I have not seen them, but have seen similar- there are places on the 'net dedicated to such), they should receive punishment fitting the crime. Abuse of power is not covered by the First Amendment, and I'm sure the family of the victim has already been contacted by a lawyer about an "emotional distress" lawsuit. There is no excuse for their actions- releasing photos of a crime scene to the public is reprehensible and should not be tolerated.
ranamacar
From the article about the Catsourases:
Daniel Solove, a law professor at George Washington University. In particular, he cites a 2004 case involving death-scene photos of former deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster, who died in 1993 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could deny Freedom of Information Act requests for the photos based on a family's right to survivor privacy. "I'm totally perplexed at how the [California] court concludes there was no duty to preserve this family's privacy," he says.
Perplexed? Really? Since when do government rules and regulations apply to us the same as they do to them?
Some animals are created more equal than others...
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