Posted on 09/05/2006 7:36:47 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THE footage of Steve Irwin's death should be destroyed, his manager and friend John Stainton said today.
"I would never want that tape shown," Stainton told CNN talk show host Larry King.
"It should be destroyed.
"At the moment it is in police custody for evidence. There's a coroner's inquest taking place at the moment.
"When that is finally released it will never see the light of day.
"Never. Ever.
"I actually saw it and I don't want to see it again."
Irwin, 44, died on Monday when stabbed in the chest by a stingray barb while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and Stainton has said footage of the incident is "terrible".
The footage shows Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest before dying.
While Stainton wants the footage kept under wraps, media experts say it may soon be circulating on the internet.
"The key point is once there's something on film, it's impossible to keep it contained," Paul Levinson, chairman of Fordham University's Department of Communication and Media Studies, said.
Mr Stainton, who broke down several times during the CNN interview, said Irwin's wife, Terri, was struggling with her husband's death.
When King asked a teary Stainton how Terri was doing, Mr Stainton replied: "A lot worse than me".
Mr Stainton told how he travelled with Irwin's body in a caske
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
As stated,if it gets out while in police custody then some person needs to do serious time for breach of trust,etc.
Steve Irwin LOVED life. He loved what he did. And he brought me with him.
My god, I thought he was insane. Some of the stuff he did? No way. The guy is crazy! But...I loved that guy!
He's that kind of guy I seek out for a friend. He's someone I admired and respected, but more: I wished his spirit and love of life was what I had for myself.
Steve Irwin was a very good man and he will be very much missed by just about everyone he met and oh so many he never had a chance to meet. God bless you Steve!
Note to God: Of all of the scum you have decided we must tolerate and learn to love, why did you take from us one of those who made it so easy?
I'd hope they would turn it over to his wife. Perhaps at some point she could have it edited and the moment of his death removed.
Cant argue with that one bit. Its up to the family what to do with the video and we need to respect the decision either way.
"What does that mean, can't keep it under wraps."
Agreed. This 'plea' that the film should be destroyed sounds sadly like a promotional ad.
Actually, in one of the videos I saw of Steve last night, he was very vividly in his own style insisting that should he die at the hands of an animal, HE WOULD WANT, INSIST THAT THE VIDEO OF IT BE SHOWN--largely so that it could be seen that the animal was not at fault.
But, also, IT IS HIS STYLE. IT IS HIS LIFE. HE WAS ONE FOR THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH about such things.
I understand folks sensibilities and wouldn't want his family to see it over and over.
But it's STEVE'S LIFE. He ought to have some say in it. Others can close their eyes.
My bet is that film will be destroyed in the next few hours and will never be seen again. I do wonder if Steve knew right away that he had suffered a fatal wound and if he was able to muster any final witty remarks.
Why?
I'm suprised it hasn't already!
Found this
It's the first article that I thought really clarified how such a thing could kill you. The only thing that is unclear to me is in paragraph 8, is it Steve who was unaware he was hit or the cameraman?
I remember once being in a car accident when I broke several bones. I was totally unaware I was hurt. The only thing I remember is the acrid smell from the airbags.
The wildlife warrior - known around the world for wrestling dangerous snakes and lethal crocodiles while exclaiming, "Crikey!" - soon plunged in and began snorkeling in 6 feet of water.
The water was alive with stingrays, some as big as 6 feet across.
Irwin singled out one of the creatures - a black stingray about 3 feet across and 220 pounds - and dived down.
A cameraman, also using snorkel gear, was filming from the front.
Suddenly, the stingray felt trapped.
In the blink of an eye, it turned and became defensive, thrashing upward with the 8-inch, poisonous barb on its tail that looks, and acts, like a serrated bayonet.
The barb struck him in the left front of the chest, goring a palm-sized hole in his heart.
"I don't think he felt any pain . . . The cameraman said he didn't know that it even hit him until he saw blood," Stainton told the Telegraph.
It is believed that Irwin died of cardiac arrest brought on by loss of blood.
Dr. Ed O'Loughlin, who was aboard the emergency chopper that tried to save Irwin, lamented, "It became clear fairly soon he had nonsurvivable injuries. He had lost his pulse and wasn't breathing."
Amen Amen and Amen. Not only am I the same age too, I have 4 kids and a daughter exactly Bindi's age - 8. The mere thought of what she and her Mum must be going through right now is almost more than I can handle.
I believe in God, but I also believe that there are some things that make no sense nor can we make sense of them. Stevo's death being one of them. On another thread some well-meaning person posted a statement that she hoped that he had "known Jesus". My reply to that is what he believed spiritually was his business and his alone, and anyone who implies that he's "lost" because he didn't follow some man-made formula won't find a sympathetic ear here.
Ditto with anyone who tries to "make sense" out of his death from a 'religious' point of view. It doesn't and you can't. Some things are not for us to be able reconcile. Just ask a Holocaust survivor.
I DO NOT want to see it, period, and it should NOT be broadcast for people's entertainment or curiosity.
I'm sort of torn on this. The human vultures who would play this again and again, the pain that this would cause his family and just the sheer ghoulishness of it all says do everything humanly possible to prevent this from ever seeing the light of day.
But, we're talking about the only record, of the last moments of life, for a man who was well loved and well known the world over. Steve Irwin himself wouldn't want it destroyed, I tend to suspect. It's almost as if, by destroying the video, his final, unfinished work is being destroyed. If the family could survive it, perhaps they should finish the project he was working on with Bindi, his daughter, and leave it in to honor him? I just don't know.
Me neither. Part of me still just can't believe it, I guess. Maybe it is hard for me to believe that someone so full of life could just be gone. I am still stunned and so sad about it all.
Ask yourself this: Would you want your kids to someday accidentally see that video? Most likely before the age of majority?
When one is underwater and an incredibly traumatic event takes place...one must realize that "their number" has been called. I would imagine it was a split-second of fear followed by a general feeling of peace.
~ Blue Jays ~
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