soulofobliteration:

darkinyourroom:

Orange County, CA, Halloween day, 2006:

After some family arguments about drug use, 18-year old Nikki Catsouras snatched the keys to her father’s Porsche and took off tearing into the Southern California afternoon. Though her frantic parents called 911, it was too late for Catsouras. Shortly after, going over 100 mph, she hit a center divider, clipped another car, and crashed into a toll plaza and died. The accident was beyond grisly. Catsouras had been nearly decapitated, to the point where her family was not allowed to identify the body and she was deemed “unrecognizable”.

Later tests showed that there was cocaine in her system. Notably, her family reports that a few months prior to the accident, she’d had a psychotic reaction to the drug due to a former brain tumor, and had to be hospitalized.

If the story ended here, it would simply be another sad cautionary tale about drugs, driving, and possibly mental health. However, it doesn’t.

As part of the routine for accidents, California Highway Patrol took photographs of the scene. These were never meant to be seen by the public, but at least one CHP dispatcher leaked the photos on the internet. The photos immediately went viral and Catsouras was unfortunately dubbed “the Porsche Girl”.

That wasn’t the worst of it, though. Anonymous people online began sneakily sending the images to her family. For example, they would email her parents or siblings something with an innocuous subject line, and when they’d open it, there would be the photos. Her family is still pushing for the adoption of a privacy law called “Right to be Forgotten”.

Ten years later, just entering her name into a search engine will still pull up graphic photos of her mutilated body and twisted, wrecked car. A terrible legacy for a beautiful, young girl.

The family also sued the department ($2.37 million) for leaking the classified photos.