The family of Bob Saget on Wednesday won a temporary injunction that blocks the release of some records from the investigation of his sudden Jan. 9 death in a Florida hotel room, after they said that the public dissemination of photos, video and “statutorily protected autopsy information” will cause them “extreme mental pain, anguish, and emotional distress.”
In seeking the injunction, Saget’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, and three daughters cited “legitimate privacy interests” and argued that no “legitimate public interest would be served” by releasing documents,ABC News reported. Some records “graphically depict Mr. Saget, his likeness or features, or parts of him,” the lawsuit also said, CNN reported
A Florida judge agreed with their arguments and granted the request for the injunction, CNN reported.
Media organizations and others who may file public-record requests may disagree with the injunction, given that the autopsy findings have left some medical experts perplexed and wondering “if there is more to the story,” as the New York Times and other outlets reported.
With questions hanging over Saget’s shocking death, and the fact that he was a beloved comedian and star of the family sitcom “Full House,” rumors and conspiracy theories have begun circulating about how he died. Some are more disturbing than others, including the baseless, far-right argument that the COVID-19 vaccine is to blame.
Experts interviewed by the New York Times and other outlets have said that the autopsy findings show that the 65-year-old Saget suffered far worse than “a simple head bump,” which he could have shrugged off before going to bed for the night in his room at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida. The night before, Saget had performed a two-hour standup set in nearby Jacksonville, and he spoke to his wife in the early morning hours of Jan. 9.
Before the autopsy findings were released late last week, Saget’s family issued a statement saying that authorities “concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep.”
The chief medical examiner of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, also said that Saget’s death was accidental, most likely from “an unwitnessed fall backwards” during which he struck the back of his head.
As much as Saget’s family may have hoped to quiet the speculation and rumor-mongering about his death, the autopsy showed that he suffered a significant blow to the head, the New York Times reported. He had fractures in the back, right side and front of his skull, including around the roof of his eye socket. The blow caused bleeding across both sides of his brain.
The significance of his injuries “complicated the picture” of Saget’s death, the Times reported. Neurosurgeons interviewed by the Times said it would be unusual for a typical fall to cause Saget’s set of fractures. His injuries were “more reminiscent” of those suffered by someone who falls from a considerable height or gets thrown from a seat in a car crash.
“This is significant trauma,” Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist, told the New York Times. “This is something I find with someone with a baseball bat to the head, or who has fallen from 20 or 30 feet.”
In an interview with MSNBC, Washington D.C.-based neurologist Jason Freeman agreed that Saget’s injuries “go beyond” what are seen in “typical slip and falls” that occur in the bathroom, when someone hits the back of their head on the shower or bathroom floor. He said the fractures, particularly to the frontal and orbital bones, are more typically seen in “high-impact traumas,” such as a car accident or other “blunt force” trauma.
The injuries also would have left him confused, in extreme pain or unconscious.
“I doubt he thought, ‘I’m just going to sleep this off,’” Jeffrey Bazarian, an emergency physician and concussion expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told the New York Times.
Authorities have said all along that there was no evidence suggesting drug use or foul play in Saget’s death. Bazarian also told the New York Times that one blow to the head, in just the right place, could have caused Saget’s extensive injuries, including those in the front of his head.
Even if that’s in the “realm of possibility,” Freeman said the report raises questions about what investigators found that they may not have mentioned. “That’s where people begin to question whether there is more to the story,” Freeman said.
Not surprisingly, the family’s legal move to block the release of investigative records is adding fuel to the rumors and conspiracy theories. Their lawsuit against the medical examiner’s office and the local sheriff’s department seeks injunctive relief to prevent the release of any records.
Some of those theories assert that authorities or someone else is trying to hide “something.” And, yes, people wonder if there was some kind of foul play.
“Something was fishy from the first reporting,” one person tweeted in response to the ABC News report about the family’s lawsuit. “I respect the family’s privacy but also (the) truth.”
“When I first heard about the blow to his head, I thought what type of blow could he have sustained and then went to sleep?” added another person. “Then, (what) neurologists said doesn’t make sense. Now, the family won’t release, which now raises even more questions??????”
But others argue that the family has a right to keep certain information private.
“I don’t understand why people feel entitled to this very private information,” someone said.
“It’s none of our damn business,” someone added. “Just because we got to share in his talents doesn’t mean we have the right to details of his life or death.”
This story has been updated.