Have you heard about this?  My hubby was telling me about it the other night.  Apparently there was this girl who got into a really grusome car accident in California.  The details were that she was 18 and had gotten into trouble with her parents for smoking in the house, she was grounded, and she got rebellious and stole her dad's Porsche and took it for a joyride.

She ended up getting into a really awful car accident and was killed.  California Highway Patrol, while investigating the scene, took photos and in the process, some of the photos got leaked onto the internet.  That's where the story really turns bad.  The photos are then spread all over the internet, apparently several people start e-mailing the parents, attaching the photos of the girl, who was decapitated.  Then students who went to school with the deceased girl's sister, start putting the photos on her locker.  Really harassing this family.  I think it's horrible. 

So now, the family is suing the California Highway Patrol for allowing the photos to leak in the first place.  Do you think the lawsuit is valid? 

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1940703.php

well, jesus, why were people harassing a family that had just lost their daughter in such a horrible fashion? it's like they're literally psychologically torturing this family, why in the hell are they doing that? jeez, it's hard to maintain faith in the human race sometimes. :-\\

well, jesus, why were people harassing a family that had just lost their daughter in such a horrible fashion? it's like they're literally psychologically torturing this family, why in the hell are they doing that? jeez, it's hard to maintain faith in the human race sometimes. :-\\

Deja vu dude, wasn't I talking about decapitation car accidents recently?

Alright, even I! am going to go on the record as saying this is very tasteless..

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/JudasRoche/porsche.jpg

Alright, even I! am going to go on the record as saying this is very tasteless..

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e367/JudasRoche/porsche.jpg


Okay, that's effed up.

I think the CHP should shoulder some of the blame. That idiot sent the pictures to his FAMILY AND FRIENDS. That is disgusting and tasteless.

I've seen the pictures they're talking about, a coworker emailed them to me a few months. Gruesome is
putting it mildly. At the time I saw them I wondered how they were on the internet, it seemed to me to
be a breach of protocol but since I had the pictures I made sure my son saw them. I wanted to make sure that
he, being a new driver, knew the consequences of speeding. That being said, I fully agree with the family's
actions, It's bad enough to lose a daughter in such a horrible fashion but to relive that horror over and over
because an insensitive clod thought it would be cool to post the pictures.

So I suppose slapping a "TOLL: $4.00 -- RIGIDLY ENFORCED!", "FAIL" or a "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" (in bold, outlined, 72-point Impact, of course) would be considered bad form?  "Was that wrong?  Should we all not have done that?"  (As if it's any surprise, the Intarwebs have made me pretty jaded...)

But to get serious for a bit, because the CHP has a policy against releasing photos, the family might have a case against the officer, but not against the deep pockets of the CHP.  I am not a lawyer, but my gut says the family has no standing against the CHP.

As for the officer, he may have the same rights as any photographer to release his pics -- the CHP can fire him for doing so against CHP policy, but that's between the CHP and the officer, and the family has no standing in any dispute between those two organizations.

That leaves family-of-darwinbait vs. CHP-dude.  No money to be made in that case -- and what would the sue him for?  Libel?  Truth is a defense to libel -- and if you're approaching a tollbooth and passing a guy on the right while doing 100+ MPH while driving a rear-engined car, the truth is what those pictures show.  You're doing it wrong, you fail.  Do not pass tollbooth, do not pay $4.00.

I've seen the pictures they're talking about, a coworker emailed them to me a few months. Gruesome is
putting it mildly. At the time I saw them I wondered how they were on the internet, it seemed to me to
be a breach of protocol but since I had the pictures I made sure my son saw them. I wanted to make sure that
he, being a new driver, knew the consequences of speeding. That being said, I fully agree with the family's
actions, It's bad enough to lose a daughter in such a horrible fashion but to relive that horror over and over
because an insensitive clod thought it would be cool to post the pictures.


  Say, man...

  If you still have the piccys, can you please remit via PM..?

  Thanks in advance... :)

So I suppose slapping a "TOLL: $4.00 -- RIGIDLY ENFORCED!", "FAIL" or a "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" (in bold, outlined, 72-point Impact, of course) would be considered bad form?  "Was that wrong?  Should we all not have done that?"  (As if it's any surprise, the Intarwebs have made me pretty jaded...)

But to get serious for a bit, because the CHP has a policy against releasing photos, the family might have a case against the officer, but not against the deep pockets of the CHP.  I am not a lawyer, but my gut says the family has no standing against the CHP.

As for the officer, he may have the same rights as any photographer to release his pics -- the CHP can fire him for doing so against CHP policy, but that's between the CHP and the officer, and the family has no standing in any dispute between those two organizations.

That leaves family-of-darwinbait vs. CHP-dude.  No money to be made in that case -- and what would the sue him for?  Libel?  Truth is a defense to libel -- and if you're approaching a tollbooth and passing a guy on the right while doing 100+ MPH while driving a rear-engined car, the truth is what those pictures show.  You're doing it wrong, you fail.  Do not pass tollbooth, do not pay $4.00.
wow. now i have even LESS faith in the human race. and yesterday i had none at all, so that's no mean feat.

i dont know about legal standing pr any of that, and if this woman actually was driving in such a fashion that's bad. certainly doesn't merit anyone calling her "darwin-bait," as though she deserved to die, and it doesn't merit torturing a grieving family with pictures of their daughter's mutilated corpse. it occurs to me that if we pay taxes for the cops to taze protect us then a part of that money should go toward making sure they treat the incident scenes they're responsible for gathering evidence of, they should treat these scenes with basic dignity and respect, as though they served the american people. they shouldn't be running around like blackwater in iraq, taking pictures of severed limbs and putting them on the internet for a laugh. that shows so much disdain toward the people these cops are pretending to be serving. so i say if the laws are such that the cops are free to do things like this, then the laws should be changed. hell, i think the people who are sending these pictures to the family and putting accident-scene pictures in lockers should be brought up on charges too. savaging a grieving family for grins and giggles should be illegal. period. it's beneath contempt.

man, this country sure is screwed up lately.

  Say, man...

  If you still have the piccys, can you please remit via PM..?

  Thanks in advance... :)
if you just google "Nikki Catsouras" you get pages and pages of them.

   Say, man...

   If you still have the piccys, can you please remit via PM..?

   Thanks in advance... :)


Yeah me too.  That way I will know what URLs to avoid, so that I do not see these disgusting photos.

  It's a tough one.  I don't blame the family for being upset but I sure don't want to see them getting any kind of serious taxpayer money over this...

  Those individuals involved with distributing official investigative materials should certainly be punished (at least fired).  Those photos, if not copyrighted, must be legally constrained I would think...

  As to the photos in the school lockers, that's up to the school and, more specifically, the principal.  I wouldn't go so far as criminal charges...

  The pictures released on the internet are, I think, completely protected by the first amendment.  This absolutely sucks for the family, but the only way I could see them being legally regulated is if it has already been demonstrated that they were disseminated illegally and are not, therefore, protected by first amendment rights...

  Maybe the photos on the net will serve a hidden purpose (ala Loki to his son).  Even now, I can't beleive what total idiots my friends and I were.  Maybe this is why I don't have kids.  If I did, I wouldn't let them out of the house until they were 30 or so...

Yeah me too.  That way I will know what URLs to avoid, so that I do not see these disgusting photos.


  That's up to you, chief...

i'm not sure about the first amendment thing. is copying and posting a picture taken by somebody else "speech"? seems to me it's one thing if you've taken the pictures and they had some artistic merit, or you've written something and you want to hand it around on the internet. but just sending a picture of something that's unrelated to you? i'm not sure that qualifies as "speech."

anyway, the first amendment isn't absolute. seems to me this sort of thing could qualify as a variant of yelling fire in a crowded movie house. but the other thing is, the internet is loaded to the gills with pictures and videos of people dying, people mutilated, what have you. i certainly wouldn't feel comfortable with the government cracking down on all of that, and i've gotten curious and checked that stuff out before. it's an aspect of reality that folks oughta face. so i dunno, it's a dilemma in that sense i suppose. this happens to be a high-profile case but there are thousands of families out there at risk of having the same experience, because there's so much violent mondo imagery on the internet just waiting for some psycho to do what these kids at this school are doing.

  I mean first ammendment rights in much the same way that CD tracks are protected by copyright law.  Having said that, their dissemination only increases the case against the party or parties who released the photos (almost certainly illegally) in the first place...

  The disgusting thing about lawyers is that they sometimes uitilize the law to get what they want for their clients.  The wonderful thing about lawyers is that they sometimes utilize the law to effect justice.  My gut tells me that these parents have a right not to be offended and I support them in their seeking justice.  I'm just unsure about the means...

  Maybe the photos on the net will serve a hidden purpose (ala Loki to his son).  Even now, I can't beleive what total idiots my friends and I were.  Maybe this is why I don't have kids.  If I did, I wouldn't let them out of the house until they were 30 or so...
i was thinking about this too. remembering that time in high school when i got HAMMERED and hit somethng like 70 in a dense residential 30-mph zone, cuz i was pissed off about something. i lucked out and nothing happened but it could have been bad.

another time i was upset about a girl, pounded sixteen shaefers with a friend of mine and wound up running around on the roof of a church, going right up to the edge and stumbling around, delighted that i had totally conquered my fear of death. again, i lucked out and didn't plummet to death or life-changing injury but it could just as easily have turned out differently. that's why this darwin award stuff always made me a bit queasy. i mean, if someone has never done anything stupidly life-threatening, then by all means they have every right to mock the foolish dead, but i got no place to make fun of anyone else for being stupid and taking their own life because it's only by the grace of god, or whoever, that i'm not a darwin case myself. and i think a lot of people who do this darwin award stuff are secretly the same as me, hiding stupid things they've done in their own life that they're just lucky enough not to have died from.

and then there's the other question, which is whether the culture's just getting more callous and violent. it might seem like a weird connection to make but i just dont think things like this would happen in a country where drowning torture wasn't legal, where private security firms paid for with tax dollars are free to murder people with impunity in foreign countries, where the government can start wars for no good reason and there aren't any consequences. baseless wars, rampant school shootings, callous mockery of tragic death... it all seems connected in a way i can't quite put my finger on, like human life just generally matters less to people than it used to. but maybe i'm just being whiny and in a bad mood. :(

They shouldn't get $20 million.it seems like the equivalent of a bank robber's family suing for the result of their child doing something wrong.If they did win that,shouldn't the other driver sue them for allowing Nikki to drive their car?She WAS breaking the law.Granted,the parents don't need to be harassed about it,but if you break the law in any shape or form,you can safely assume there will be documentation of it somewhere.What Nikki did is a bit more severe than simply jaywalking or driving without a seatbelt.The parents shold be grateful,if not happy,that there wasn't a mass slaughter as a result of Nikki's actions.

man, yall ruthless.

i was thinking about this too. remembering that time in high school when i got HAMMERED and hit somethng like 70 in a dense residential 30-mph zone, cuz i was pissed off about something. i lucked out and nothing happened but it could have been bad.

another time i was upset about a girl, pounded sixteen shaefers with a friend of mine and wound up running around on the roof of a church, going right up to the edge and stumbling around, delighted that i had totally conquered my fear of death. again, i lucked out and didn't plummet to death or life-changing injury but it could just as easily have turned out differently. that's why this darwin award stuff always made me a bit queasy. i mean, if someone has never done anything stupidly life-threatening, then by all means they have every right to mock the foolish dead, but i got no place to make fun of anyone else for being stupid and taking their own life because it's only by the grace of god, or whoever, that i'm not a darwin case myself. and i think a lot of people who do this darwin award stuff are secretly the same as me, hiding stupid things they've done in their own life that they're just lucky enough not to have died from.

and then there's the other question, which is whether the culture's just getting more callous and violent. it might seem like a weird connection to make but i just dont think things like this would happen in a country where drowning torture wasn't legal, where private security firms paid for with tax dollars are free to murder people with impunity in foreign countries, where the government can start wars for no good reason and there aren't any consequences. baseless wars, rampant school shootings, callous mockery of tragic death... it all seems connected in a way i can't quite put my finger on, like human life just generally matters less to people than it used to. but maybe i'm just being whiny and in a bad mood. :(
Well you could argue Nikki herself was callous and violent for not regarding the safety of others when she went for her "spin". :o

Well you could argue Nikki herself was callous and violent for not regarding the safety of others when she went for her "spin". :o
if so i'd say she more than paid for it, wouldnt you?

man, this talk makes me a little queasy, to tell you the truth.

if so i'd say she more than paid for it, wouldnt you?

man, this talk makes me a little queasy, to tell you the truth.
Yeah I hear you.But i think the parents already got "paid'by the fact Nikki didn't cuase a mass of death and destruction.if she had killed a family in  a car,do you think the parents would still be suing.?I think the officer simply wanted to illustrate the dire consequences of being a "stupid criminal' to his family and friends.I mean let's face it.if i committed a crime what resulted in my demise,I know officers would have a story for their family.That's just what happens.Nikki is the one who did something wrong.it could have been worse.

Okay, but what was the parents’ crime again? Not sufficiently keeping an eye on the keys to their car? I guess that merits having people forcing them to look at pictures of their daughter’s mangled corpse and say things like, “your spoiled brat daughter isn’t so pretty now, is she?” seems pretty out of proportion to me.

All I know is if I found myself in a situation like this I’d fight tooth and nail to stick the government as hard as I could. If they get the 20 million they should give it to an appropriate charity but the government needs to learn they can’t play games with family tragedies. They’re supposed to serve us, not laugh at our suffering. And I think assuming that the guy who stole these pictures did it to teach people how to be safe is presuming the best. If that’s true how did these pictures wind up on rotten.com?

They shouldn't get $20 million.it seems like the equivalent of a bank robber's family suing for the result of their child doing something wrong.If they did win that,shouldn't the other driver sue them for allowing Nikki to drive their car?She WAS breaking the law.Granted,the parents don't need to be harassed about it,but if you break the law in any shape or form,you can safely assume there will be documentation of it somewhere.What Nikki did is a bit more severe than simply jaywalking or driving without a seatbelt.The parents shold be grateful,if not happy,that there wasn't a mass slaughter as a result of Nikki's actions.


  The harm done to this family is apparent but I'm asking if there were any laws broken, here.  I'm not blaming the parents for their child's bad decision or its consequences...

  I think the release of the investigation photos must be unlawful, at the very least against department procedure...

  At the same time I'm not prepared lock people up for being heartless, unsympathetic or just plain a**holes...

Okay, but what was the parents’ crime again? Not sufficiently keeping an eye on the keys to their car? I guess that merits having people forcing them to look at pictures of their daughter’s mangled corpse and say things like, “your spoiled brat daughter isn’t so pretty now, is she?” seems pretty out of proportion to me.

All I know is if I found myself in a situation like this I’d fight tooth and nail to stick the government as hard as I could. If they get the 20 million they should give it to an appropriate charity but the government needs to learn they can’t play games with family tragedies. They’re supposed to serve us, not laugh at our suffering. And I think assuming that the guy who stole these pictures did it to teach people how to be safe is presuming the best. If that’s true how did these pictures wind up on rotten.com?



I agree. If it was someone's nudie pics or sex tape the law suit would be the obvious route,i find this way more hurtful and intruding.
What is it with the violent images craze,nowdays? It's getting so out of control.

So I suppose slapping a "TOLL: $4.00 -- RIGIDLY ENFORCED!", "FAIL" or a "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" (in bold, outlined, 72-point Impact, of course) would be considered bad form?  "Was that wrong?  Should we all not have done that?"  (As if it's any surprise, the Intarwebs have made me pretty jaded...)

But to get serious for a bit, because the CHP has a policy against releasing photos, the family might have a case against the officer, but not against the deep pockets of the CHP.  I am not a lawyer, but my gut says the family has no standing against the CHP.

As for the officer, he may have the same rights as any photographer to release his pics -- the CHP can fire him for doing so against CHP policy, but that's between the CHP and the officer, and the family has no standing in any dispute between those two organizations.

That leaves family-of-darwinbait vs. CHP-dude.  No money to be made in that case -- and what would the sue him for?  Libel?  Truth is a defense to libel -- and if you're approaching a tollbooth and passing a guy on the right while doing 100+ MPH while driving a rear-engined car, the truth is what those pictures show.  You're doing it wrong, you fail.  Do not pass tollbooth, do not pay $4.00.

I think you nailed it, Foo.  It doesn't look like the family has standing against the CHP but the CHP is obliged to find out who leaked the photos and put his ass on the chafing dish.  Perhaps a good lawyer could workup a "causing emotional pain and suffering" suit against the leaker, and if the family could afford a Porsche perhaps they could afford just such a lawyer. I wouldn't consider it frivolous for the family to hold the guy accountable in a law suit.  Imagine if it was your kid? 

I haven't seen these particular pics, but I've seen more than my share of car crash gore.  It's pretty nasty.

Okay, but what was the parents’ crime again? Not sufficiently keeping an eye on the keys to their car? I guess that merits having people forcing them to look at pictures of their daughter’s mangled corpse and say things like, “your spoiled brat daughter isn’t so pretty now, is she?” seems pretty out of proportion to me.

(+1 karma for tia)

Yeah, not to mention all the kids at school printing off the accident photos and sticking them in her sister's locker. Real classy.  >:( ::)

Really, the only reason so many people are taking such a perverse amount of joy in this whole thing has more to do with the girl's socioeconomic status and the type of vehicle she was driving than anything else.

I mean, if this girl was from Oklahoma and her name was Lindy Lou and she wasn't all that attractive, and she was out joyriding in her parents' '96 Grand Am and the exact same thing had happened, I think there'd probably be a lot more sympathy for her family. But since this Nikki girl was from Orange County and was driving her daddy's Porsche, well, it's always great to see some spoiled rich Paris Hilton-type get her comeuppance, right?

Sh*t like this makes me want to pull the plug on my Internet.

The world doesn't seem like such a bad place without it.



Stay classy, America.  ::)

(+1 karma for tia)

Yeah, not to mention all the kids at school printing off the accident photos and sticking them in her sister's locker. Real classy.  >:( ::)

Really, the only reason so many people are taking such a perverse amount of joy in this whole thing has more to do with the girl's socioeconomic status and the type of vehicle she was driving than anything else.

I mean, if this girl was from Oklahoma and her name was Lindy Lou and she wasn't all that attractive, and she was out joyriding in her parents' '96 Grand Am and the exact same thing had happened, I think there'd probably be a lot more sympathy for her family. But since this Nikki girl was from Orange County and was driving her daddy's Porsche, well, it's always great to see some spoiled rich Paris Hilton-type get her comeuppance, right?

Sh*t like this makes me want to pull the plug on my Internet.

The world doesn't seem like such a bad place without it.



Stay classy, America.  ::)



yeah, i'd noticed that too. you know me, i hate rich people more than anybody. but dag,

also, it occurred to me that riding in a porsche like that, you can find yourself going a hundred gazillion miles an hour and not feeling like youre  doing more than 60 cuz of all that german engineering. so in this case it's really kind of a mitigating factor.

but yeah, she was a looker and she was being petulant, as 18-year-olds are wont to do, which also seems to have made people real mad at her too.

also, it occurred to me that riding in a porsche like that, you can find yourself going a hundred gazillion miles an hour and not feeling like youre  doing more than 60 cuz of all that german engineering. so in this case it's really kind of a mitigating factor.


Oh yeah, the Krauts sure know how to build a car.

I once took a 1977 Mercedes-Benz with bald tires down the autobahn at 140 mph and lived to tell about it. (It still had plenty of steam left in it, I probably could've gotten it up to 160-170 but I was scared to go any faster.)

Oh yeah, the Krauts sure know how to build a car.

I once took a 1977 Mercedes-Benz with bald tires down the autobahn at 140 mph and lived to tell about it. (It still had plenty of steam left in it, I probably could've gotten it up to 160-170 but I was scared to go any faster.)
to be fair, if i was joyriding in daddy's porsche for the first time i'd probably wanna take it up to 100 too. although i think i'd go through the toolbooth first. poor girl, i really do feel pretty terrible for her. she was weak and succumbed to temptation and paid the ultimate price. least it didn't hurt. luckily for me when i joyrode my folks' car, i had to make do with joyriding a 1979 mercury capri. i just drove to the corner store for cigs.  :-[

to be fair, if i was joyriding in daddy's porsche for the first time i'd probably wanna take it up to 100 too. although i think i'd go through the toolbooth first. poor girl, i really do feel pretty terrible for her. she was weak and succumbed to temptation and paid the ultimate price. least it didn't hurt. luckily for me when i joyrode my folks' car, i had to make do with joyriding a 1979 mercury capri. i just drove to the corner store for cigs.  :-[


When I was 7 or 8, and my brother was 15 and was supposed to be babysitting me, he used to sneak out with the parents' '72 Buick station wagon and take it out joyriding. (Once he even managed to ditch a cop.)

Scared the living sh*t out of me.  ;D

(+1 karma for tia)

Yeah, not to mention all the kids at school printing off the accident photos and sticking them in her sister's locker. Real classy.  >:( ::)

Really, the only reason so many people are taking such a perverse amount of joy in this whole thing has more to do with the girl's socioeconomic status and the type of vehicle she was driving than anything else.

I mean, if this girl was from Oklahoma and her name was Lindy Lou and she wasn't all that attractive, and she was out joyriding in her parents' '96 Grand Am and the exact same thing had happened, I think there'd probably be a lot more sympathy for her family. But since this Nikki girl was from Orange County and was driving her daddy's Porsche, well, it's always great to see some spoiled rich Paris Hilton-type get her comeuppance, right?

Sh*t like this makes me want to pull the plug on my Internet.

The world doesn't seem like such a bad place without it.



Stay classy, America.  ::)



You pretty much nailed down what I was thinking. Regardless of how rich she was or what she was driving, the point still stands that the officer emailed the photos to his family and friends, which he SHOULD NOT have done, and they got out all over the place. So I would hold him responsible for a large part of the family's continued grief (hate mail, sister getting harassed at school with the photos, etc.).

You pretty much nailed down what I was thinking. Regardless of how rich she was or what she was driving, the point still stands that the officer emailed the photos to his family and friends, which he SHOULD NOT have done, and they got out all over the place. So I would hold him responsible for a large part of the family's continued grief (hate mail, sister getting harassed at school with the photos, etc.).


I guess that in this day and age, when someone gets into a fatal car crash, the type of car they drive determines whether they died a senseless, tragic death or they got PWNED!!!1!!!1!!LOL LOL LOL LOL!!1!!!!1!  ::)

Maybe I really should pull the plug on my Internet.

The more I think about it, the gayer all this crap seems.  :P

I think you nailed it, Foo.  It doesn't look like the family has standing against the CHP but the CHP is obliged to find out who leaked the photos and put his ass on the chafing dish.  Perhaps a good lawyer could workup a "causing emotional pain and suffering" suit against the leaker, and if the family could afford a Porsche perhaps they could afford just such a lawyer. I wouldn't consider it frivolous for the family to hold the guy accountable in a law suit.  Imagine if it was your kid? 

I haven't seen these particular pics, but I've seen more than my share of car crash gore.  It's pretty nasty.


Ditto here.  I was actually surprised when googling her name and "FAIL" returned nothing.  But there was a pretty hilarious Fark thread where a drunk asshat managed to drive halfway out of a parking garage and suspend himself 60 feet above the ground, so it was a fun search. ("EPIC FAIL: failure so big it wraps right back around into win!")

Whoever mentioned copyright might have been onto something -- I wonder if there's a clause somewhere whereby a photograph taken by an on-duty CHP officer becomes the property of CHP.  It's a work for hire.  The cop who originally released it (and technically, anyone who hosted it) would be civilly liable for infringing CHP's copyright on the photo, and perhaps criminally liable under any number of DMCA-era intellectual-property statutes, under which you can get more time in prison for copyright infringement than you can for murder.

Yeah, the kids sticking pictures in the locker, or sending them to the parents -- that's a weak move. But then, that's Anonymous:  because none of us are as cruel as all of us.

It takes two to make the Streisand Effect work.  The smartest thing to do was to ignore it.  For the first few weeks, it was an ignorable local story. The day the local TV news picked up on it and released the story to other mainstream news organizations, it became a mainstream curiosity, but you still have to google for it to find the results. The day anyone other than the originating cop is the target of real legal action is the day she posthumously graduates from "local curiosity" to "Internet cliche".  The more Tarkin tightens his grip, the more star systems send fleets of ships to spraypaint "INSERT PHOTON TORPEDOES HERE" on the Death Star.

wow...I looked at "some" of the accident pics...I couldn't even bring myself to look at the really morbid/horrible ones. So incredibly sad. :\'(

wow...I looked at "some" of the accident pics...I couldn't even bring myself to look at the really morbid/horrible ones. So incredibly sad. :\'(


The story of that man who murdered his family last week in Springfield (Springfield, Mass., that is) has been gnawing at my brain since Wednesday.  I'm not going to hunt for sick pics tonight.  I saw no crime scene photos of the murders, just reading about it was enough.  Sometimes the thoughts elicited by words can be just as disturbing.

What is it with the violent images craze,nowdays? It's getting so out of control.


  It's kinda like when you're cruising down the highway and you suddenly encounter backed up traffic.  Moving slowly along you pass an accident scene with the attendant police and fire/rescue vehicles and personnel.  You observe two crushed soda cans that used to be automobiles...

  What do you do as you continue slowly past the scene...?

  You look..!  Not only do you look, you strain to look.  Many drivers actually slow down to get a better look knowing, full well,they're contributing to the back up.  What is it that you expect to see at an accident scene - children and clowns romping with unicorns in wonderful landscapes?  You're looking for blood..!  :)  8-P

     

 

   It's kinda like when you're cruising down the highway and you suddenly encounter backed up traffic.  Moving slowly along you pass an accident scene with the attendant police and fire/rescue vehicles and personnel.  You observe two crushed soda cans that used to be automobiles...

   What do you do as you continue slowly past the scene...?

   You look..!  Not only do you look, you strain to look.  Many drivers actually slow down to get a better look knowing, full well,they're contributing to the back up.  What is it that you expect to see at an accident scene - children and clowns romping with unicorns in wonderful landscapes?  You're looking for blood..!  :)  8-P

     

   
well, yeah, but you dont then get out of your car, find the nearest weeping mother surrounded by state troopers, and dance around her crying "YOU GOT PWNED! YOUR WHOLE FAMILY'S DEE EE DEE DEAD!!!!!! LOL! YOU STUPID WIDOWED BITCH!!!!" i do sincerely feel a line gets crossed there.

i almost feel there's a really offensive but meaningful SNL skit in there somewhere: what would it be like if people did in real life what they feel enfranchised to do online.

well, yeah, but you dont then get out of your car, find the nearest weeping mother surrounded by state troopers, and dance around her crying "YOU GOT PWNED! YOUR WHOLE FAMILY'S DEE EE DEE DEAD!!!!!! LOL! YOU STUPID WIDOWED BITCH!!!!" i do sincerely feel a line gets crossed there.

i almost feel there's a really offensive but meaningful SNL skit in there somewhere: what would it be like if people did in real life what they feel enfranchised to do online.



  There but for the grace of God, go I...

 

well, i broke down and looked for the gruesome pictures. they're actually harder to find than you would think but i found one on the first google results page. she wasn't really decapitated, it's more like her head was pulverized. she's sorta hanging halfway out of the car with a bunch of pulp where her head used to be. it's not so much sensationalist as really just depressing, i cant imagine being forced to see it and think that's the girl i spent 18 years raising.

oh well, yet another sign of a rising fascist state if you needed it. i really think people in america are being deliberately trained to be indifferent to human life. people who died horribly because they made foolish choices! it's so funny.

i gotta get the hell out of this goddamn country. :(

well, i broke down and looked for the gruesome pictures. they're actually harder to find than you would think but i found one on the first google results page. she wasn't really decapitated, it's more like her head was pulverized. she's sorta hanging halfway out of the car with a bunch of pulp where her head used to be. it's not so much sensationalist as really just depressing, i cant imagine being forced to see it and think that's the girl i spent 18 years raising.

oh well, yet another sign of a rising fascist state if you needed it. i really think people in america are being deliberately trained to be indifferent to human life. people who died horribly because they made foolish choices! it's so funny.

i gotta get the hell out of this goddamn country. :(


  Point taken, Tia...

  Ah, I don't know what to say.  I don't pretend to know the minds of the denizens inhabiting those web sites.  I guess I'm used to it, well in photographs.  Have only witnessed one person die in real time, when I was 18.  Propeller vs. skull...

  Your reaction to this issue, I mean the voyeurism not the police leak, is suprising the bejeezus out of me.  I wasn't expecting this level of opposition...

  It is interesting...

 

 

   Point taken, Tia...

   Ah, I don't know what to say.  I don't pretend to know the minds of the denizens inhabiting those web sites.  I guess I'm used to it, well in photographs.  Have only witnessed one person die in real time, when I was 18.  Propeller vs. skull...

   Your reaction to this issue, I mean the voyeurism not the police leak, is suprising the bejeezus out of me.  I wasn't expecting this level of opposition...

   It is interesting...

 

   
yeah, i dunno, i'm just really feeling this one for some reason. i think if it had just leaked out and gotten on ogrish.com and nobody but the morbid pervs were ever the wiser that would be one thing, but the fact that they're making the family look at those pics just breaks my heart.

and then there's the whole issue with this country just being insanely violent the past few years, which i know is sorta not related, but also sorta is... :-\\

yeah, i dunno, i'm just really feeling this one for some reason. i think if it had just leaked out and gotten on ogrish.com and nobody but the morbid pervs were ever the wiser that would be one thing, but the fact that they're making the family look at those pics just breaks my heart.

and then there's the whole issue with this country just being insanely violent the past few years, which i know is sorta not related, but also sorta is... :-\\


  So, your problem is with the individuals who harassed the Castouras family.  I can't but agree.  Stupid people are, well, stupid...

  I think what bothers me even more than showing pics to families and violent countries, morbid pervs &etc. is the tremendous hypocricy in this country.  Common courtesy and respect for one another would be a good place to start which, actually, brings me back to the Castouras family.  We don't need to take away rights or legislate morality in order to bring honor.  Honor is not dead.  We can bring it back in an instant.  Honor is a free choice...

  I'm not ready to give up on America, just yet.  We may be violent, morbid hypocrits, but Americans have always been a very generous people... :)

I guess that in this day and age, when someone gets into a fatal car crash, the type of car they drive determines whether they died a senseless, tragic death or they got PWNED!!!1!!!1!!LOL LOL LOL LOL!!1!!!!1!  ::)

Maybe I really should pull the plug on my Internet.

The more I think about it, the gayer all this crap seems.  :P
"gayer"???you're not a homophobe now are you??? ???

   The harm done to this family is apparent but I'm asking if there were any laws broken, here.  I'm not blaming the parents for their child's bad decision or its consequences...

   I think the release of the investigation photos must be unlawful, at the very least against department procedure...

   At the same time I'm not prepared lock people up for being heartless, unsympathetic or just plain a**holes...
I just don't think the officer really meant any harm by emailing the photos.And what if Nikki had crashed into a school bus load of kids and drove them down a steep cliff?I don't think there would be so much controversy.

(+1 karma for tia)

Yeah, not to mention all the kids at school printing off the accident photos and sticking them in her sister's locker. Real classy.  >:( ::)

Really, the only reason so many people are taking such a perverse amount of joy in this whole thing has more to do with the girl's socioeconomic status and the type of vehicle she was driving than anything else.

I mean, if this girl was from Oklahoma and her name was Lindy Lou and she wasn't all that attractive, and she was out joyriding in her parents' '96 Grand Am and the exact same thing had happened, I think there'd probably be a lot more sympathy for her family. But since this Nikki girl was from Orange County and was driving her daddy's Porsche, well, it's always great to see some spoiled rich Paris Hilton-type get her comeuppance, right?

Sh*t like this makes me want to pull the plug on my Internet.

The world doesn't seem like such a bad place without it.



Stay classy, America.  ::)

if you mean if she came from a poor family,no ,i wouldn't be more sympathetic.I would wonder who is paying for the gas for the car instead of her walking or taking the bus.

I mean, if this girl was from Oklahoma and her name was Lindy Lou and she wasn't all that attractive, and she was out joyriding in her parents' '96 Grand Am and the exact same thing had happened, I think there'd probably be a lot more sympathy for her family.


Not so sure about that, AL-B.  It's far less likely Lindy Lou's auto crash photos would get leaked to the Internet in first place, and even if they were, I'm not so sure folks would be so outraged.  L.A. is ubiquitous in our culture.  Oklahoma?  You got S.E. Hinton novels and Timothy McVeigh's manure bomb, other than that...
No, we don't hate rich, beautiful people from California; we're envious so we're catty!

Chances are Lindy Lou's photos are on the 'net anyway because she let her boyfriend take nudie pics of her with his digicam, and he posted them on one of those revence sites after she broke up with him.
::)

Not so sure about that, AL-B.  It's far less likely Lindy Lou's auto crash photos would get leaked to the Internet in first place, and even if they were, I'm not so sure folks would be so outraged.  L.A. is ubiquitous in our culture.  Oklahoma?  You got S.E. Hinton novels and Timothy McVeigh's manure bomb, other than that...
No, we don't hate rich, beautiful people from California; we're envious so we're catty!

Chances are Lindy Lou's photos are on the 'net anyway because she let her boyfriend take nudie pics of her with his digicam, and he posted them on one of those revence sites after she broke up with him.
::)
well, the people who hated on the woman in question hated on her explicitly because she was rich and pretty, so i think what you say is true, but not entirely in the way you paint it. i think if you want to find pictures of "linda lou" dead behind the wheel there's plenty of car crash photos and vids of just regular people dying in horrible car crashes but they dont get much attention, they fade into the background. and yet this specific family got sent gruesome pictures of their daughter's death because she was pretty and driving a $150,000 porsche, so t's hard to call it privilege in this context. more like a rare instance in which rich people are singled out for unusual suffering because the wealth becomes a conspicuous signifier. it really doesnt fit so easily into these available narratives about socioeconomics and class, it's a case where rich people suffer as though they were poor, but because they're rich.

I just don't think the officer really meant any harm by emailing the photos.And what if Nikki had crashed into a school bus load of kids and drove them down a steep cliff?I don't think there would be so much controversy.


  Whether or not the officer meant harm by emailing the photos is irrelevant.  The fact that sensitive official investigative materials were mishandled is the issue...

      The CHP employees involved in the leak - the investigator at the scene and the dispatcher who received the photos and then leaked them - should be disciplined according to department policy, whatever that involves - legal action, termination of employment, reprimand &etc...

  The photos should remain on the internet, whoever is so inclined to host them, without worry of prosecution...

  Image hosters should not be held liable for hosting the photos.  Dead people cannot be libelled or slandered in law...

  The high school students who had access to the photos and distrubuted them, pasted them on locker doors, forwarded copies of them to the Castouras family and whatnot, if on school grounds and with school equipment should be dealt with by the school administrators according to school policy...

  In the event the Castouras family is awarded monetary damages, the court will donate that money to the appropriate charity in their name...

^i totally agree.

^i totally agree.


    :)

evidently the folks the family hired to get the photos off the internet, most of the time they just contact the people hosting the photos, point out what's going on, and 9 times out of 10 the people hosting the photos readily agree to take them down. there's some hope to be gotten from that, yanno? for some reason (probably because i'm nutters) i've gotten to the point that i'm taking the outcome of this story as a referendum on human nature. if it comes to a decent conclusion then maybe there's hope for us. if this family just keeps getting tormented and the powers that be do nothing to make it right, then we all suck and we deserve to die in a lake of fire.

i almost feel there's a really offensive but meaningful SNL skit in there somewhere: what would it be like if people did in real life what they feel enfranchised to do online.


It's a well-known phenomenon; Penny Arcade put it best.  The G.I.F.T. is part of being on the Intarwebs.

evidently the folks the family hired to get the photos off the internet, most of the time they just contact the people hosting the photos, point out what's going on, and 9 times out of 10 the people hosting the photos readily agree to take them down. there's some hope to be gotten from that, yanno? for some reason (probably because i'm nutters) i've gotten to the point that i'm taking the outcome of this story as a referendum on human nature. if it comes to a decent conclusion then maybe there's hope for us. if this family just keeps getting tormented and the powers that be do nothing to make it right, then we all suck and we deserve to die in a lake of fire.



   I, too, have a strong desire to comprehend stuff...

   There must be a link between understanding our own internal dialog and being able to empathise with other people.  I usually find its the people who are incredibly aware of their own internal processes and mental machinations that are most able to empathise with others.  We can really only infer other people's emotions and feelings through the examination of our own.  If we're completely cut-off from ourselves, we're probably cut off from everyone else.  Does that sound about right..?

   So I'm probably (in my own convoluted way) arguing for self-knowledge as a public good rather than just some form of morally obsolete navel-gazing...

   The change must start with the individual.  How?  I haven't the faintest idea.  Maybe change will only happen when we've all devolved into freakin' cavemen (and cavewomen) where we end up pounding walnuts with our iPhones...

"gayer"???you're not a homophobe now are you??? ???


No, not really.

Fine, I was a little pissed off and I may not have used the best choice of words. So, I guess you can substitute the word "idiotic" or "stupid" or "ignorant" for what I said earlier, but everything else I said I stand behind.

I just get sick and tired of this pervasive attitude online where people think it's cool to take pleasure in the pain and suffering and humiliation of others.

Not to mention, all the mall shootings and crap like that has been going on has gotten me a little upset lately, and I think I can understand the connection between all that and the coarsening of society that Tia has been discussing.

Not so sure about that, AL-B.  It's far less likely Lindy Lou's auto crash photos would get leaked to the Internet in first place, and even if they were, I'm not so sure folks would be so outraged.  L.A. is ubiquitous in our culture.  Oklahoma?  You got S.E. Hinton novels and Timothy McVeigh's manure bomb, other than that...

Well now, let's not forget the Sooners and the Flaming Lips.  ;)

No, we don't hate rich, beautiful people from California; we're envious so we're catty!

Chances are Lindy Lou's photos are on the 'net anyway because she let her boyfriend take nudie pics of her with his digicam, and he posted them on one of those revence sites after she broke up with him.
::)


Was that before or after he started waving his gun at some fellow with the hair colored yellow?  ;D

Was that before or after he started waving his gun at some fellow with the hair colored yellow?  ;D
god, we used to do that song. i'm so glad that band fired me.

   So, your problem is with the individuals who harassed the Castouras family.  I can't but agree.  Stupid people are, well, stupid...

   I think what bothers me even more than showing pics to families and violent countries, morbid pervs &etc. is the tremendous hypocricy in this country.  Common courtesy and respect for one another would be a good place to start which, actually, brings me back to the Castouras family.  We don't need to take away rights or legislate morality in order to bring honor.  Honor is not dead.  We can bring it back in an instant.  Honor is a free choice...

   I'm not ready to give up on America, just yet.  We may be violent, morbid hypocrits, but Americans have always been a very generous people... :)
yes,i agree the problem is with the kids who harasses the Catsouras family.Imean,..I dunno...if i think someone is richer or prettier than me,I don't automatically get hateful over them.I mean,I'm prettier than a lotof people too,and i don't expect them to hate me.

yes,i agree the problem is with the kids who harasses the Catsouras family.Imean,..I dunno...if i think someone is richer or prettier than me,I don't automatically get hateful over them.I mean,I'm prettier than a lotof people too,and i don't expect them to hate me.


  Then you're way ahead of the game... :)

I just get sick and tired of this pervasive attitude online where people think it's cool to take pleasure in the pain and suffering and humiliation of others.




    Doesn't mean I approve of heartless assclowns.  I'm not the one who harassed a grieving family, but someone did.  Eh, what can you do?  People are stupid...

  The family will move on and the healing will begin.  The healing will not begin until then.  Shame on those folks who harassed them.  Shame on the family for delaying that healing process by this tit-for-tat media circus.  I do not wish for them to profit one plug nickel from their daughter's death...

  The Castouras' are under no legal obligation to forgive and forget.  But they should...

  The damn cops, however, need to be dealt with.  My problem with this whole thing is more with the conduct of those who would protect and serve us.  This case only reinforces my contempt for them...

  So says my two cents...

   The damn cops, however, need to be dealt with.  My problem with this whole thing is more with the conduct of those who would protect and serve us.  This case only reinforces my contempt for them...

   So says my two cents...


??? Maybe the photos were obtained by a hacker who got 'em off the LAPD's computer system ???

??? Maybe the photos were obtained by a hacker who got 'em off the LAPD's computer system ???


  No.  The CHP has already acknowledged one of it's employees is responsible for the leak...

  Woo man, that OC Register link totally messes up my computer...

well, this story's back in the news. they had a feature on it in newsweek this week.

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

Two weeks later, Lesli's brother, Geoff, got a call from a neighbor. "Have you seen the photos?" he asked. Apparently, photos of the crash scene were circulating around town, via e-mail. Soon they showed up on Web sites, many of them dedicated to hard-core pornography and death. A fake MySpace page was set up in Nikki's name, where she was identified as a "stupid bitch." "That spoiled rich girl deserved it," one commenter wrote. "What a waste of a Porsche," announced another.

The family filed a formal complaint about the photos' release, and three months later, they received a letter of apology from the California Highway Patrol. 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. "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."

Their best bet might be to try what families of celebrities have done in the past.

Copyright their daughter's face and image.  Then they could try to get them removed under "violation of copyright" laws.

Other then some trick like that though, there is really little to nothing they can do.  It is sad that some scumbags take pleasure in the pain of others.  But I have known people like that myself in the past.

All you can do is ignore them the best you can.

Their best bet might be to try what families of celebrities have done in the past.

Copyright their daughter's face and image.  Then they could try to get them removed under "violation of copyright" laws.

Other then some trick like that though, there is really little to nothing they can do.  It is sad that some scumbags take pleasure in the pain of others.  But I have known people like that myself in the past.

All you can do is ignore them the best you can.
hey that could work.I mean,they made her.But i can't help wondering how the guy she injured is faring,and if he will ever get anything useful out of this.

Their best bet might be to try what families of celebrities have done in the past.

Copyright their daughter's face and image.  Then they could try to get them removed under "violation of copyright" laws.




That will not work since the pictures do not show her face, or anything remotely resembling her...

That will not work since the pictures do not show her face, or anything remotely resembling her...
to be literal about it :o :o :o