A Florida judge on Monday approved a request by Bob Saget’s family to permanently seal the late comedian’s autopsy records.
Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu granted the permanent injunction, sealing photos, videos, reports, and other records connected with Saget’s death, according to the New York Post. Saget died on January 9 at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes after suffering blunt force trauma to his head, likely from falling backward onto his bathroom floor, according to investigators.
Saget’s family requested that Chiu seal the records over family privacy concerns. Saget family attorney Brian Bieber released a statement from the family following the ruling.
“The entire Saget family is grateful that the Judge granted their request for an injunction to preserve Bob’s dignity, as well as their privacy rights, especially after suffering this unexpected and tragic loss. We are pleased this issue has been resolved, and the healing process can continue to move forward. All of the prayers and well wishes continuously extended to the family are beyond appreciated,” Bieber told CNN.
According to investigators, Saget is thought to have lost consciousness in his bathroom, fallen, and hit his head on the bathroom floor. Investigators believe Saget later woke up and groggily made his way onto his hotel bed where he is thought to have hit his head again on his headboard before losing consciousness for a second time and later dying.
Saget’s family put out a statement after the findings were released.
“The authorities have determined that Bob passed from head trauma. They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved,” the Saget family said.
Initial reports of trauma to Saget’s head prompted speculation that some sort of foul play may have been involved in the comedian’s death. Dr. Jason Freeman, a neurologist and stroke expert, said on MSNBC that Saget’s injuries appeared to go beyond what one would typically expect to find after a fall in the bathroom, however, he did not rule out multiple falls.
“I think the autopsy report does raise a number of questions about the nature and extent of the injuries. If we typically see slip and falls that that occur usually in the bathroom, someone hits the back of their head on the shower or the bathroom floor,” Freeman said. “These injuries described in detail in the autopsy report seem to go beyond that. And I think as you described in your opening this is where some of the medical professionals began to speculate about what could have caused the actual injuries.”
“I would agree that the injuries as described just do typically form because of significant head trauma,” he added. “So again, when someone slips and falls and hits the back of their head, there’s actually room for the brain to shift between the back in front of the head and cause some of the injuries as described in the autopsy report. But the degree of those fractures, especially the orbital and frontal bones, is typically seen with high impact traumas that you might see in a motor vehicle accident, blunt force trauma, and again, someone particularly falling from a height. And so I think it raises the question, maybe was there more than one fall? Did he fall backwards and then fall forwards in an unprotected manner?”