Vanessa Bryant has reportedly filed a lawsuit against L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his department, seeking unspecified damages for severe emotional distress caused after cell phone photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, and 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were allegedly shared amongst deputies and members of the public.
Bryant alleges in the suit, obtained by TMZ, that “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.” It then goes on to claim that deputies discussed and showed their colleagues those photos, despite having no investigative reason to do so. And one trainee allegedly went so far as to show the images to a woman he was trying to impress at a bar, leading to the bartender calling the sheriff’s department to report the incident.
The suit goes on to claim, according to TMZ, that Villanueva attempted to cover up the situation and destroy evidence, promising the deputies who took those personal photos of the crash that if they deleted them they’d face no disciplinary repercussions. It also claims that the sheriff didn’t tell the families of the deceased about the existence of said photographs and they were only made aware of the images after learning about them in the media.
“Ms. Bryant feels ill at the thought of strangers gawking at images of her deceased husband and child,” the lawsuit states, “and she lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online.”
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a representative for Vanessa Bryant declined to comment.
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