The death of Bob Saget rocked the internet a few months ago. The loveable actor, better known as Danny Tanner on Full House, was still a very visible, working comedian when his body was found in his Florida hotel room on January 9th.
It took several weeks and sifting through numerous rumors of drug use and accident scenarios before investigators determined Saget had simply fallen and hit his head. Brutal.
Sadly, two Florida officers now have to pay the price for leaking the news of Saget’s death.
Florida deputies accused of sharing Bob Saget’s death before family was informed disciplinedhttps://t.co/QF0hbaR1Hn
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 19, 2022
Here are the details per Billboard:
Two Florida deputies have each been suspended for about two weeks for leaking news about actor and comedian Bob Saget’s death before his family was alerted, officials said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday (June 20) that the two deputies were each suspended for 81 hours without pay.
It should be noted that it doesn’t appear either of these officers were attempting to gain fame or do anything malicious, rather they just told one person each, and subsequently, it spiraled from there. You simply can’t trust people to keep a secret, especially if a high-profile person is involved.
Of course, in today’s environment, it wouldn’t have been surprising if both officers had been relieved of duty rather than just docked two weeks’ pay.
Either way, the lesson here is clear. If you know you are supposed to keep your mouth shut about something, do it!
It’s tragic that Saget’s family had to hear about his death from the media, but once the genie was out of the bottle it was just a matter of time.
“This case highlights how important it is to allow detectives in death investigations the time to ensure next of kin notifications are made before that information is disseminated to the public,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a statement. “The deputies acknowledged their wrongdoing and were disciplined for their actions.”
One of the deputies told his brother about Saget’s death shortly after responding to the scene, and then the brother posted the information on social media, according to an investigation report. The other deputy, who was off-duty and not involved in the death investigation, told his neighbor about Saget’s passing, officials said.
Saget, 65, was found by a hotel security officer at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando on Jan. 9 after he had failed to check out of the hotel and his family had asked for a well-being check. A medical examiner later determined that the “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” star had died from an accidental blow to the head, likely from a backward fall.
Lesson learned. You simply cannot divulge sensitive information, not even to your loudmouth brother or nosy neighbor. The ultimate boneheaded move was putting it on social media. Suffice to say that officer’s brother and neighbor likely won’t be getting any more juicy gossip. Imagine had this been a criminal case, leaks like this could’ve severely damaged the investigation.
Hopefully, the officers learned an expensive lesson, and this chapter of one of the saddest stories of the year can be closed. RIP Danny Tanner.
This story syndicated with permission from My Patriot Post