The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department tells TMZ … “shortly following this tr*gic cra-sh, Sheriff Villanueva sponsored legislation which now makes it a cr!me for public safety perso-nnel to take and share non-official pictures of this nature.”
Vanessa Bryant is su!ng the L.A. County Sheriff and his department, cla!ming they ca-used her severe emotional di*tress … when deputies so-calling took personal cellphone photos of the b*dies of Kobe and Gigi Bryant at the scene of the helicopter cra-sh that took their lives.
According to the lawsu!t, obtained by TMZ, “no fe-wer than 8 sheriff’s deputies at the cra-sh site, pu-lled out their personal cell phones and snapped photos of the loss children, parents, and coaches. The deputies took these photos for their own personal gratification.”
The lawsu!t goes onto so-called the photos were the subject of conversation within the sheriff’s dept … with deputies showing their colleagues the pictures that had no investigative purpose.
Vanessa says in the su!t … that’s when Sheriff Villanueva tried to cover it all up by going to the Sheriff’s subst-ation that responded to the cra-sh and telling deputies if they deleted the photos they would not face discipline. The su!t cla!ms the purpose of his talk was the dest-ruction of evidence.
The lawsu!t cla!ms Villanueva did not tell the families about the photos and they only learned of it in the media when the story br-oke that deputies took the photos.
The lawsu!t cla!ms the Sheriff never gave the family straight answers and now Vanessa is in constant fe-ar the photos will l*ak … “Ms. Bryant feels ill at the thought of strangers ga-wking at images of her dece-ased husband and child, and she lives in fe-ar that she or her children will one day confront ho*rific images of their loved ones online.”The lawsu!t se-eks unspecified da*ages, including pun!tive da*ages. We reached out to the Sheriff’s Dept. … so far, no word back.
This Article First Published On TMZ