Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, says she is “devastated” over unauthorized photos of victim’s remains snapped by L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene of her husband’s helicopter crash in January.
Last month, news broke that sheriff’s deputies were trading photos of the dead bodies of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and the other victims of the January 26 helicopter crash outside Calabasas, California.
The department said that it launched an investigation after an employee at a bar reported seeing officers sharing the photos on their cell phones at his establishment, TMZ said.
Reports of the photos being shared for unofficial reasons sparked a sharp rebuke from Vanessa Bryant’s legal team on Sunday. The attorney decried the trading of the photos as “inexcusable and deplorable” as well as “an unspeakable violation of human decency,” according to TMZ.
The attorney called for the department to crack down on the officers who shared the photos, saying it is of “critical importance” to protect the dignity of the victims of the crash.
“Mrs. Bryant is grateful to the individual who filed an online complaint exposing these acts of injustice,” the lawyer added.
“Sheriff Alex Villanueva assured us all measures would be put in place to protect the family’s privacy, and it is our understanding that he has worked hard to honor those requests,” the attorney also said.
Bryant’s attorney also called on the sheriff’s department to root out, identify, and punish any officers caught with the unofficial photos on their devices to “ensure that the photos are not further disseminated.”
Mrs. Bryant already filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that her husband used to charter his fatal helicopter flight.
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