According to TMZ, Vanessa Bryant is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department over photos taken at the site of a helicopter crash that left nine people dead, including Kobe & Gianna Bryant. Bryant filed a claim against the department earlier this year for allegedly sharing photos of the Jan. 26 crash scene of the Santa Monica Mountains. The claim was a precursor to the lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit describes events in the crash aftermath, when Vanessa Bryant and family members gathered at the LA County Sheriff’s station in Lost Hills. She was told by Sheriff Alex Villanueva that deputies were securing the crash site, where onlookers had been gathering, according to the lawsuit.
“But the biggest threat to the sanctity of the victims’ remains proved to be the Sheriff’s Department itself,” the lawsuit states. “Faced with a scene of unimaginable loss, no fewer than eight 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.”
Villanueva has admitted that eight deputies were involved in taking and sharing photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and other victims at the scene of the crash in Calabasas, and that he ordered the photos to be destroyed. He said at least one of the photos was shared outside of the department.
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