CHP Employee Leaked Gruesome Crash Photos

The most searched term by people who find this site through Google or Yahoo continues to be "Nicole Catsouras Accident Photos". Hundreds of people continue to come through here each week looking for the gruesome photos of the 18 year old who wrapped her father's Porsche around a concrete toll booth after a 100 mph crash on Halloween Day last year (I posted a couple of items in reference to the crash). I've never posted the pictures, but have had some fun tweaking the weirdos that are looking for them (see here). It's amazing how persistent some of these people are in their efforts to see the shocking pictures.

According to today's OC Register, the source of the photos was a CHP employee:

LADERA RANCH – The California Highway Patrol has acknowledged that one of its employees is responsible for leaking onto the Internet graphic pictures of a Ladera Ranch teen's nearly decapitated body after she died in a high-speed car crash last fall.

The agency has written a letter of apology to the parents of Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras, 18, who died instantly after losing control of her father's Porsche on a toll road in Lake Forest on Oct. 31.

The images have circulated to thousands of Web sites worldwide and have prompted a $20 million claim against the state for emotional and punitive damages. The pictures have turned up in e-mails and text messages sent to Nikki's parents and other relatives....

An investigating officer with the CHP leaked the photos to a friend – a dispatcher with the agency – who then e-mailed them to the public, according to the claim.

Accident-scene photos are supposed to be used only for investigative purposes, and it is against CHP regulations to make them available to the public.

The CHP and a private company hired by the Catsouras family, Reputation Defender, have been requesting Web site operators to remove the offending images, which include color close-ups of a nearly decapitated Nikki.

Given that the photos were from the crime scene investigation, the source pretty much had to be someone in the CHP. I hope they get the book thrown at them.


UPDATE 2/3/10: After initially being denied, the family has won the right to sue the CHP officials responsible for releasing the photos.