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Monday, March 19
Spokesman: Photos haven't been viewed
Orlando Sentinel

A Volusia County spokesman late Sunday contradicted an announcement by NASCAR's president that its expert has studied Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photos.

Those photos, sealed by court order Feb. 22, have been the center of a controversy between the Orlando Sentinel and Earnhardt's widow. Teresa Earnhardt has fought to keep the photos private but reached an agreement with the Sentinel last week to allow an independent medical expert to view the photos and a videotape of the autopsy.

But on Saturday, a day after the agreement, NASCAR president Mike Helton said at a press conference that it has had an expert review the photos and is completing its own investigation into Earnhardt's death.

"We had a medical specialist look at them," Helton said at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. "We have had our own analysis of the report, the photographs. We have not come up with anything conclusive to go beyond what we've already announced."

A spokesman for Volusia County, reached at home Sunday night, said he was stunned by Helton's announcement.

"The autopsy photographs have not been released nor have they been viewed by anyone other than the medical examiner's office," said Volusia spokesman David Byron. "No one has the autopsy photographs; if they do it will certainly be a shock to me."

However, according to a report in the upcoming issue of Speedway Scene, Dr. Steve Bohannon, the Halifax Medical Center doctor at Daytona Speedway, viewed the autopsy photographs on Feb. 21, the day before the photos were sealed by a court order.

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