Vanessa Bryant has filed a lawsuit against the LA County Sheriff and his department, claiming the deputies accused of taking images of the bodies of her late husband Kobe Bryant and their daughter Gigi Bryant at the helicopter crash site where they lost their lives have caused her “severe emotional distress.”
Obtained by TMZ, Vanessa’s lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and punitive damages, claims “no fewer than 8 sheriff's deputies at the crash site, pulled out their personal cell phones and snapped photos of the dead children, parents and coaches. The deputies took these photos for their own personal gratification."
In addition to allegations that multiple LA Count Sheriff’s deputies shared the graphic pictures within the department and with their colleagues for “no investigative purpose,” Vanessa believes Sheriff Villanueva attempted to cover up the situation by allegedly telling deputies if they deleted the images they would not face discipline.
As previously reported in February, a trainee allegedly exposed the images to a woman in a bar days after the tragic January 26 crash. The person tending bar at the time then informed the sheriff’s department, sparking an internal investigation.
The suit also claims Villanueva never informed the families of the departed about the images, only learning about them in the media when the story broke. Now, Vanessa is afraid the images will leak to the public.
Per TMZ, the suit concludes: "Ms. Bryant feels ill at the thought of strangers gawking at images of her deceased husband and child, and she lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online.”
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