BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Chief of Police of the US Virgin Islands Police Department is investigating the leaking of a photo of the late Karence De Costa who was involved in an auto accident in the wee hours of Monday, on June 8, 2009.
SKNVibes received an email with the photographs which are too graphic for publication.
According to Caribbean Net News, Chief of Police Rodney Querrard released a message to the USVI public on Tuesday (June 16) in hopes of finding out who took a cellular phone picture of De Costa and forward it via email.
“It has come to my attention that a confidentiality breach has occurred, possibly by police officers or other first responders who were on the scene of the accident involving Karence DeCosta, where a photo taken at the scene is being distributed through the internet or via email to members of the general public.
“I want to make myself perfectly clear; the Virgin Islands Police Department will not tolerate this type of unprofessional behaviour by any of its officers. Acting Commissioner Novelle Francis Jr. has been advised of this situation and the Director of Internal Affairs, Curtis Griffin has launched an internal investigation to determine who breached the confidence of this investigation, being it is a Police Officer, or any other first responder.
“This type of technology has no place in the confidential nature of the police department when it comes to releasing classified information. I want to assure the family of Karence that the investigation into her death is being conducted with the highest respect,” Querrard said.
The Chief of Police declared that the person responsible for releasing the photo would be identified, and if found to be a police officer he or she would be severely dealt with through established protocol.
The Police Top Brass also appealed to the public during a press conference yesterday (June 17) not to forward photos that were distributed by text and email following the fatal accident of Karence DeCosta.
“Anyone who receives this photo, do not forward it, please delete it,” said Deputy Chief Dwayne DeGraff.
De Costa was killed on impact while driving home from a celebration just hours after her graduation from the Charlotte Amalie High School.
De Costa, who is originally from St. Kitts, moved to St. Thomas in 2006 and was crowned that island’s Carnival Queen in April. At age 14 she won the 2005 Kittitian Superstar with a voice that shook everyone that heard it.
She is scheduled for burial tomorrow (June 20) in St. Thomas.
On May 21, 2009, SKNVibes Editor-in-Chief Stanford Conway posted an article, headlined “Graphic photos of latest homicide revealed by irresponsible police officers”, in which he stated that graphic photos of 24-year-old Ornel Estridge of Cayon were sent around the world via Internet by officers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
Estridge was killed on May 19 while at the home of her sister in the company of a male friend.
Following Conway’s article, the High Command released a statement of apology and declared that the matter would be investigated.
“The High Command of the Police Force has become aware of the crime scene images of the late Orngel Estridge being circulated on the internet. This is regrettable and unacceptable. An investigation into this incident has been launched and appropriate action will be taken,” the released read.
A similar incident occurred in 2006 involving 18-year-old American Nikki Catsouras who died in a car accident.
According to Newsweek, the Catsouras “accident was so gruesome the coroner wouldn't allow her parents to identify their daughter's body”.
However, photographs of the scene of Catsouras' death were taken by California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers as part of standard fatal vehicle accident procedures and they ended up being forwarded to others within the Department, and then spread across the Internet.
Two CHP employees, Aaron Reich and Thomas O'Donnell, admitted to releasing the photos in violation of CHP policy. O'Donnell later stated in interviews that he only sent the photos to his own e-mail account for viewing at a later time, while Reich stated that he had forwarded the pictures to four other people.
Catsouras' parents soon discovered the photographs posted online. The pictures had gained much attention, including a fake Myspace tribute website that actually contained links to the photographs.
Grievers also anonymously e-mailed copies of the photos to the Catsouras family with misleading subject headers, in one case captioning the photo sent to the father with the words "Woohoo Daddy! Hey daddy, I'm still alive."
This led to the Catsouras family withdrawing from Internet use and even homeschooling their youngest daughter due to the possibility that she might have been taunted with the photographs.
The family decided to take action against the CHP for leaking the photographs and hired a Reputation Defender to handle their lawsuit.
This led to the CHP issuing a formal apology and taking action to prevent similar occurrences in the future, after discovering that departmental policy had been violated by the two officers responsible for the leakage of the photographs.
O'Donnell was suspended for 25 days without pay while Reich quit soon after "for unrelated reasons," according to his lawyer.
In March 2008 however, the final ruling in the legal case was issued and Judge Steven L. Perk dismissed the case against the Department of the California Highway Patrol after both Reich and O'Donnell were removed as defendants.
The Judge ruled that the two were not under any responsibility for protecting the privacy of the Catsouras family, effectively ending the basis for the case. The family's legal team is appealing the ruling.
Although the controversy illustrates the lack of control over the legal privacy that exists in these situations, the lack of legal precedent makes it difficult for the legal system to be used to punish those who circulated the images.
The superior court judge who dismissed the Catsouras' case ruled in March 2008 that while the dispatchers' conduct was "utterly reprehensible" there was no law that allowed it to be punishable.
US Virgin Islands News