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Family considerations Earnhardt's widow: Release of photos would be harmful
Updated: Tuesday June 12, 2001 11:27 PM
By Mike Fish, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Seated on the witness stand, wearing a white jacket and a cold glare, Teresa Earnhardt looked every inch like a woman ready for a fight. And she proved herself worthy of the assignment. Mrs. Earnhardt, widow of racing legend Dale Earnhardt, spent 95 minutes inside Volusia County Circuit Court on Tuesday, stoically defending her position that autopsy photographs of her late husband should be locked up and never made public. She supported NASCAR's handling of the accident, while deflecting questions that the sanctioning body, and NASCAR president Mike Helton in particular, led her to file a lawsuit to block release of the autopsy photos. After closing arguments Wednesday, Judge Joseph Will is expected to rule on the request by a University of Florida student newspaper and a Web site for access to the Earnhardt photos. A new state law, which the judge ruled constitutional Monday, requires the parties to show "good cause'' as for why they need to see the photos.
"Anyone looking at any of them is the most personal invasion of my privacy and my family's privacy,'' Mrs. Earnhardt told the court. "There is no reason to [view them].'' Mrs. Earnhardt has uttered few public comments since her husband died Feb. 18, after his car slammed into the wall during the Daytona 500. On the witness stand, she spoke at length about their relationship, the frantic days after his death and her own inability at the time to provide the comfort needed by their 12-year-old daughter, Taylor. "It's been very hard because I wasn't able to spend the time with her I needed to,'' she said. "I've always been a very private person. ... She needed more than I was able to give her.'' Mrs. Earnhardt testified the release of the photos would cause only further invasion of the family's privacy. She spoke of a photographer jumping out of the bushes at her husband's funeral and of helicopters circling above their home outside Charlotte, N.C., where a neighbor complained the noise was scaring his goats. As for she and her late husband, Teresa described them as a team -- saying she'd not missed one of his races in almost 20 years of marriage. "What we had to do in our lives and business was too much for one person, so we worked side by side,'' she said. "At the time of his death, it was such a shock. I don't deal with death well. Here it was right on me. I was just trying to deal with all the sources of information people were giving me. ... What has to be done, and at the same time trying to take care of family members. "I wasn't allowed much time to feel everything emotionally. It was just a blur.'' In earlier testimony, Dr. Steve Bohannon, a Daytona International Speedway doctor, spoke of Mrs. Earnhardt being in a daze after her husband had been pronounced dead. She brushed off a hospital technician attempting to remove Dale's gold wedding band. "She was obviously very upset,'' Bohannon said. Tom Julin, attorney for The Independent Florida Alligator at the University of Florida, questioned Mrs. Earnhardt exhaustively on whether NASCAR prompted her to file suit in an effort to divert attention from whether her husband might have survived had NASCAR required drivers to wear a head-and-neck restraint device. Mrs. Earnhardt acknowledged Helton was of great assistance, but explained that was largely due to his also being a close family friend. Among other things, she told of a meeting with Helton at his house the day after the accident and conferring as she juggled a host of issues. She confirmed that Helton recommended the Daytona Beach law firm that filed her suit, Crotty & Bartlett, which also has represented NASCAR. Asked why she filed suit, Mrs. Earnhardt said: "To protect myself and my family from humiliation and harm ... and from the powerful stress of the release of the autopsy photos. Period.'' She explained that Helton also had alerted her prior to going public with news that her husband's lap belt had failed in the fatal crash. "He explained it to my satisfaction,'' Mrs. Earnhardt said. "He explained [what caused the separation] because the media was stirring up allegations that the belt was cut and all sorts of ridiculous allegations like that. "I saw the belt and we went through it to my satisfaction.'' Asked if she was angered by news of the seat-belt failure, she said: "Well, I just wish it hadn't, but I also know there is a comprehensive investigation [by NASCAR] going on to give us all the answers. Dale is dead. There's not a rush to feel anything, other than that [the belt failure] has not happened before.'' Julin tried unsuccessfully to have a subpoena served on Helton. In his bid to obtain access to the autopsy photos, Julin has argued the Volusia County medical examiner's office ruled Earnhardt suffered a basular skull fracture, but didn't "show the mechanism of death.'' Julin contends that had NASCAR required drivers to wear a head-and-neck restraint device, it might have prevented this and several racing fatalities in recent years. He proposed the photos be examined by medical and engineering experts at the University of Florida to help determine the cause of death. However, three witnesses, including Bohannon, have testified the photos are of poor quality and don't shed light on anything that isn't already in the written autopsy report. Judge Will also is leery of the graphic evidence popping up on an Internet site, noting that another party to the action, Deland, Fla., Web site owner Michael Uribe, previously posted autopsy photos of drivers Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr. Both drivers were killed in 1994 crashes at the Daytona International Speedway. Mrs. Earnhardt expressed her fears to the judge that her 12-year-old daughter might some day be subjected to seeing the photos. To that end, her attorneys are asking that the file be permanently sealed. "I think that would be the most traumatic thing for myself, the thought that at anytime for the rest of our lives they could pop up,'' she said. "It is humiliating, knowing that any day they could pop up on TV, at the grocery store, at school.'' The opposition described Mrs. Earnhardt as "overcoached.'' But as he left the courtroom, Thom Rumberger, Mrs. Earnhardt's attorney, felt confident that his client had, if nothing else, bolstered their already strong case.
"Nobody buffaloed her or pushed her around,'' Rumberger said. "She's not quite as emotional as some might have thought, but that doesn't lessen her pain or the invasion of her privacy.''
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