Vanessa Bryant is suing the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department over unauthorised photographs of the scene at the helicopter crash that...
Vanessa Bryant is suing the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department over unauthorised photographs of the scene at the helicopter crash that killed her husband, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
People magazine obtained the legal claim filed on Friday in which Vanessa Bryant seeks damages for emotional distress and mental anguish in the wake of revelations that eight sheriff’s department deputies took graphic photos of the scene and shared them with others.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among nine people who died in the January 26 helicopter crash in the mountains west of Los Angeles.
According to the court filing obtained by People, “no fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies were at the scene snapping cell-phone photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches.
“As the Department would later admit, there was no investigative purpose for deputies to take pictures at the crash site. Rather, the deputies took photos for their own personal purposes.”
The only people authorized to take pictures of the scene were investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the coroner’s office.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva acknowledged in March that deputies had taken photos of the crash scene, after the Los Angeles Times reported the existence of the pictures.
Entertainment news website TMZ.com reported then that a bartender had lodged a...
