Vanessa Bryant has sued the L.A. County Sheriff over leaked photos from the crash site that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant.
The suit seeks damages for negligence, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“This lawsuit is about accountability and about preventing this disgraceful behavior from happening to other families in the future who have suffered loss,” Bryant’s attorney, Luis Li, said in a statement. “The department formally refused Mrs. Bryant’s requests for information, saying it was ‘unable to assist’ with any inquiry and had no legal obligation to do so. It’s now for a court to tell the department what its obligations are.”
Sheriff Alex Villanueva previously told reporters that eight deputies took or shared graphic photos of the scene, and he ordered the images deleted.
“That was my No. 1 priority, was to make sure those photos no longer exist,” Villanueva told NBC News at the time. “We identified the deputies involved. They came to the station on their own and had admitted they had taken them and they had deleted them. And we’re content that those involved did that.”