The photos are horrible and I feel so sad for her family and understand their pain - BUT Nikki was violating the LAW when she died - she was going over 100 MPH on a public roadway without regard to the OTHERS on the road. She could have killed a dozen innocent law abiding people due to her careless actions.
Again, I feel really bad for her family but in the age of camera phones in every pocket, if it hadn't been the CHP, it would have been someone else - much like when Anna Nicole died and some bystander video'd her going into the ambulance and someone else at the morgue, there is no expectation of privacy outside your home....even in death
If I was her Mom I would take control of the situation and OWN (figuratively) the photos themselves and speak out for something positive - go to schools with a tear-jerking and meaningful presentation of my daughter's life and the GOOD in her and her life ahead filled with unlimited possibilities and talk about the immaturity of teen drivers and the trouble that can lead to when kids act impulsively without thinking. Then BAMM, hit a room full of smart aleck, bullet proof kids with the way her life ended. Not sensational, but IMPACTFUL! I'd make Nikki into the PERSON she was, not just the gruesome way she died. It would be SO MOVING! I'd leave feeling I had made my child's life COUNT for something good and positive.
Their child's life was cut short and her death was gruesome - and she died accidentally at her own hand - but her family could change that and make her life (and death) count for something awesome. If her example stopped even ONE KID from getting mad and driving fast, or racing, or doing any of the stupid things HS and college kids do in cars then Nikki's life and death would be less about shock value and more about a real-life example that simple impulsive actions have sometimes horrifying consequences.
I feel so awful for Nikki's family BUT as we know from WS, bad things happen to some very nice people every day. They cannot now "unring the bell" - it's far to late - they cannot stop the photos from going around (and they cannot protect their other kids from it either). What they CAN do is stop the salacious spreading of the pics WITHOUT the story of Nikki (the person, their beautiful child) being attached to them. Once THEY spread the photos THEMSELVES (with an appropriate and moving slide show with a MESSAGE, for instance), the photos alone lose their value.
Is costing someone their job going to bring back Nikki? Is money going to bring back Nikki? Is winning a lawsuit going to stop one passerby from filming the next ugly accident (recently we watched a man burn to death after a car accident here)? What they should do is make the CHP staff who did this appear with them (on their own time) at 100 high schools where they use the photos (And Nikki's life) for GOOD, not shock value. Since the family is quite wealthy already, that's a much better memorial to the Nikki they loved so much and miss so much.
From their pain could come a really important program to teach young people that along with drinking and drugs, anger and impulsiveness are ALSO deadly behind the wheel of a car.
My Opinion
