An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant.What parent hasn't taken pictures of their kids taking a bath or doing silly things? Heck, I've got video (which I won't share here since my now 20-year old daughter would be mortified). There's absolutely nothing sinister about it, but we've allowed some laws to rob us of our common sense, and we've put requirements on companies that process photos to report ANYTHING that could be even remotely wrong, even if common sense would tell you otherwise.
Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit.
The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn't regain custody for a month while the state investigated.
Neither parent was charged with sexual abuse and they regained custody of their children — then ages 1 1/2, 4 and 5 — but the Demarees claim the incident inflicted lasting harm.
The couple is seeking undetermined monetary damages from both Walmart and the state and have requested a jury trial.
Richard Treon, the lawyer for the Demarees, said the images of the girls were part of a group of 144 photographs taken mostly during the family's vacation in San Diego.
There were seven to eight bath- and playtime photos of the girls that showed a "portion or outline or genitalia."
"There was nothing sexual about it," Treon said. "This is a parent's worst nightmare."
One lawsuit names Arizona, Peoria and the state Attorney General's Office as defendants, claiming that employees from each defamed them by telling friends, family members and co-workers that they had "sexually abused" their children by taking pornographic pictures of them.
A second lawsuit, naming Walmart as the defendant, says the company is at fault for not telling Anthony Demaree that it had an "unsuitable print policy" and could decide to turn any photos over to law enforcement.
I think this lawsuit is well founded and I hope the family wins big.
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4 comments:
Any person who is a parent or grandparent, and has a camera, and the child is bathing probably has pictures that Wal-Mart would probably deem 'pornography'.
What happened to common sense?
I hope this family wins BIG!!!
This is ridiculous! I don't know any parents or grandparents that either have never taken pictures of their children/grandchilren in the nude or have never posessed such pictures. What are they supposed to do, bath with all their clothes on. I like shopping at Wal-Mart, but this is going way to far. I hope both Wal-Mart and the State lose big time on this case when it comes to court. It doesn't really take to much sense to tell the difference between regular pictures a parent would normally take and those which are pornography!!!!
This sounds like a lot of Child Welfare Offices, keeping the children away from their parents for over a month while they investigate tells me the office which was handling this much have a bunch of loons working in it. Many of these Child Welfare Employees are not really with the program mentally and have no business doing the sort of work they are doing. The parents should sue and I trust they will win.
SHAME ON THE CITY OF AZ. IS EVERYONE TRYING TO KEEP THIER JOB SO BAD THAT THEY CREATE AND CAUSE IRREVERASABLE HARM TO THE CHILDREN AND THE FAMILY, WHAT A SHAME, THE COP SHOULD BE FIRED, SO SHOULD THE WAMART EMPLOYEE, AND THE CITY SHOULD OPENLY APPOLIGIZE AND TRY TO MAKE THIS RIGHT.
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