Vanessa Bryant.Photo: ESPN
Vanessa Bryant’s attorneys claim that “close-up photos” of her husbandKobe and daughter Gianna Bryantwere shared on at least 28 different Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department devices, in the latest update in her ongoing lawsuit.
Attorneys for Bryant allege in the document that sheriff’s deputies and firefighters tried to suppress evidence of the photographs.
“It has also shown that defendants engaged in a cover-up, destroying the direct forensic evidence of their misconduct and requiring extensive circumstantial evidence to establish the full extent of that misconduct,” Bryant’s team said in the documents.
Skip Miller, a partner at the Miller Barondess law firm and outside counsel for L.A. County, told PEOPLE in December thatthe county maintains that no images of Kobe and Gianna’s bodies were shared with the public.
Gianna Bryant, Kobe Bryant.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
“While the County sympathizes with Ms. Bryant’s tragic loss, it did not cause the crash that claimed the lives of her husband and child,” Miller said at the time. “Rather, it responded to that crash and, at her specific request, set up a no-fly zone, undertook extensive efforts to keep the public and paparazzi away, and made sure none of the investigative photos were ever publicly disseminated.”
“The County did its job and believes there is no merit to this lawsuit,” he added.
Representatives for Bryant’s legal team did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In previous declarations submitted in the lawsuit, Bryant’s legal team claimedeight L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputies took photographsof the crash victims and shared them with unauthorized people. Bryantalso said she askedLA. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva to secure the crash site to limit anyone from taking unauthorized photographs or video out of fear the images could be disseminated.
Bryant is seeking damages for emotional distress and mental anguish in relation to the alleged image leak. She has stated her goal with the suit is not monetary, but rather to prevent similar situations from happening again.
The trial is set to begin in February 2022.
Along with Kobe and Gianna, the crash also killed 13-year-oldPayton Chester, Sarah Chester, 46, 14-year-oldAlyssa Altobelli,Keri Altobelli, 46,John Altobelli, 56 andChristina Mauser, 38.
source: people.com
