Dr Testifies about Autopsy Photos and NASCAR – Speedway doctor: Earnhardt photos graphic, disturbing AND threatened?: The chief emergency doctor at Daytona International Speedway told attorneys Monday that NASCAR never influenced him to say that a broken seat belt led to Dale Earnhardt’s death at the Daytona 500. But an attorney for a student-run newspaper that wants access to Earnhardt’s autopsy photos maintained that NASCAR officials put Dr. Steve Bohannon in a position in which he couldn’t say anything else. “NASCAR never told me what to say or what not to say,” Bohannon said. “I got thrown into the public spotlight to help NASCAR explain to the media this terrible event that transpired. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong.” At a conference before Bohannon’s deposition, Circuit Judge Joseph Will denied a request by Teresa Earnhardt’s attorneys to limit the questions to privacy issues. Earnhardt’s attorneys wanted to bar questions about NASCAR’s possible role, which they characterized as a “news-gathering witch hunt.” See Full story at the Orlando Sentinel. AND A Daytona International Speedway doctor testified in a deposition Monday that the Dale Earnhardt autopsy photos were very graphic and disturbing. Dr. Steve Bohannon, one of the doctors who worked on Earnhardt after his fatal crash Feb. 18, was the only person outside Volusia County’s medical examiner’s office who viewed the photos before they were sealed. He told attorneys on Monday that he talked to Earnhardt’s widow about a week after she filed a lawsuit to stop the photos from being made public. He described the photos to Teresa Earnhardt as graphic and said they showed Earnhardt’s naked body and its dissection. Full AP story at CBS Sportsline AND threatened? Dr. Steve Bohannon, one of the first physicians to reach race car driver Dale Earnhardt after his fatal wreck, said Monday the Orlando Sentinel bent the rules of journalism by threatening him to get an interview. Two attorneys for the Sentinel deny his accusations, but give conflicting accounts of what happened. Full story at the Daytona Beach News Journal: Official: physician at Earnhardt wreck threatened by newspaper(6-5-2001)
