Post-Charlottesville Doxxing and Misidentification Creates Legal Risks–Vangheluwe v. GotNews

This is a lawsuit brought by former owners of a car who were incorrectly identified as the driver of the vehicle (and his father, respectively) who ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians in Charlottesville. In the wake of the planned alt-right demonstrations, a gray 2010 Dodge Challenger drove into a crowd of pedestrians and killed Heather Heyer. Several posters and a news organization (GotNews, of Chuck Johnson fame) wrongly identified Joel Vangheluwe as the driver-perpetrator. The grey Challenger was owned at one point by Jerome Vangheluwe, Joel’s dad. The car was actually driven by Alex Fields, Jr., who acquired the car that the Vangheluwes once owned. According to the court, while the Vangheluwe family was in the midst of hosting a wedding celebration, pandemonium broke out as a result of social media posts identifying Joel as the perpetrator. The Vangheluwes received a torrent of online threats and messages at their home. They feared for their safety. They sued twenty…

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