The long blonde hair and warm smile on the Yahoo homepage would have been at least vaguely familiar to news followers in much of the world.
Yahoo takes down ad using Justine Damond photo to sell debt services
Family's lawyer decries misuse of image of someone killed by police.
August 25, 2018 at 1:43AM
The often-used photograph of a smiling Justine Damond appeared Thursday to the left of an advertisement for debt services. The ad resembled the many news stories on the same Yahoo page.
Damond died in the summer of 2017 when she was shot by a Minneapolis police officer in the alley behind her house. She had called 911 out of concern for a neighbor.
As word of the advertisement spread, the image was taken down.
Yahoo is now part of Verizon and operates under a subsidiary called Oath. Of the ad, a spokeswoman said in a written statement, "Misleading and offensive ads are not acceptable, and we expect our partners to comply with all laws, regulations and our policies. We have removed the ad from our platforms."
Lawyer Bob Bennett, who has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Damond's family, learned about the ad when he was contacted by the newspaper.
He said Friday, "The use of images of people killed by the police, like Justine Ruszczyk and Philando Castile, for commercial gains on the internet and elsewhere by strangers should be condemned," he said. "The family and I appreciate the efforts by the Star Tribune in aiding us to get the image of Justine on Yahoo taken down promptly."
Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a routine traffic stop in Falcon Heights in 2016.
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747 Twitter: @rochelleolson
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