There was a recent trial that concluded in San Diego involving a man named Anthony Arevalos.  He was a former San Diego Police Officer who was convicted of 12 counts of sexual battery and assault. In short, he would pull over women for DUI and offer them “deals” to get out of a charge or ticket.

As you might suspect, this was a pretty big deal and there was an enormous amount of news coverage on the trial.  Also, not without surprise, many of the women accusing Mr. Arevalos of the assaults didn’t want their identity revealed.

I could stop right there and be done with my WTF Wednesday Award, but Mr. Arevalos does not receive my coveted spot in blog history.  Oh no.  A judge decided 8 years in prison will suffice.

Instead, I give my award to the the local news.  As I said earlier, the women who were accusing Mr. Arevalos of sexually assaulting them did not want to be identified.  So, in this day of allowing cameras in the courtroom, those behind the camera, chose this area to focus their lens.

This is not one of the actual accusers, but someone willing to model for a good cause.

Apparently it’s not bad enough that these women were sexually assaulted by an officer of the law.  Someone who they looked to for protection.  They are then subjected to their chest being broadcast all over the news 4 times a day.

Was there no way around this?  What happened to the good old days of pixelating or blurring someone’s face?  None of the testimony was being broadcast live so how about edit a black box into the shot.  Get a little creative for Pete’s sake and don’t think, Oh, they don’t want their face shown, so I’ll just focus on their rack instead.