ORLANDO, Fla., March 19 (UPI) -- SeaWorld has joined a Florida lawsuit to keep video of a trainer being fatally pulled into the water by an orca from being released to the public.
The judge in the case granted SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment's request to join the lawsuit filed last week by the family of Dawn Brancheau, who died Feb. 24 after an orca named Tilikum pulled her into the water by her ponytail, CNN reported Friday.
The Orange County Sheriff's office said Brancheau died at the Orlando SeaWorld park from "multiple traumatic injuries and drowning."
The lawsuit seeks to keep the Orange County Sheriff and the District Nine Medical Examiner's Office from releasing security camera footage and photos from the incident to the public. The family said it is particularly concerned about two videos, one from an angle above the water and the other underwater.
"The underwater view does not show Mrs. Brancheau until after she had entered the water. The overhead camera was not aimed at the scene until after the incident had begun," the lawsuit states. "Significantly neither camera shows what occurred in the moments prior to and including Mrs. Brancheau being pulled into the water and offer no insight into the cause of this tragic event."
