The claim calls the departments investigation a cover-up and says that the constable directed deputies to delete the pictures to prevent discipline and to destroy evidence of their misbehavior.
The tension of losing her husband and daughter, the claim says Bryant is sickened by the thought of complete strangers looking at the pictures. She also dreads the thought that her children might stumble upon the pictures online, it said.
Another company contributed to wrongful death suit
In a separate lawsuit, Vanessa Bryant added another company, OC Helicopters, to her wrongful death suit for the crash, according to court papers obtained by CNN.
Island Express and the pilot, Ara Zobayan, were named in Bryants initial complaint filed previously this year. In the newest filing, attorneys for Bryant state OC Helicopters owner Richard Webb routinely talked about weather condition and paths with Island Express pilots before and during flights.
On that January morning, “Webb recommended the route for this subject deadly flight to Island Express pilot Ara George Zobayan. Webb personally examined and monitored climate condition on the hour every hour and told Zobayan that based upon the weather reports, the subject fatal flight was doable and was a good flight strategy,” said the lawsuit. Webb continued to text the pilot and sent him a last text about the weather 20 minutes after the crash.
When Bryant went to John Wayne-Orange County Airport to fly to the Calabasas crash website, Webb stated she might not take off due to weather, according to court files.
To name a few failures, OC Helicopters did not assess weather condition, get appropriate weather data before and during the flight, or suggest a safe path and flight plan.
” Defendant OC Helicopters poorly failed to tell the Island Express pilot Ara George Zobayan to abort or cancel the flight or turn around when its agent and staff member Richard Webb remained in interactions with Defendant Zobayan and keeping track of the weather condition during the flight,” according to the claim.
The fit accuses the helicopter business and pilot of lots of counts of neglect varying from offering safe airplane services, correct training, to causing or licensing the operation in a negligent way.
In June, the NTSB said weather condition and visibility were vital to the accident as that fateful morning in January was foggy by California requirements.
The civil claim, submitted Thursday in LA Superior Court, looks for concealed damages to fix civil liberties infractions, carelessness, emotional distress, and violation of personal privacy.
The constables department stated it does not comment on pending litigation.
The day of the crash, household members collected at the Lost Hills Sheriffs Station where the constable assured them the crash site was secured. A leakage from the department, according to the suit gotten by CNN, led to TMZ breaking the news and fans gathered to the website.
” But the biggest threat to the sanctity of the victims remains proved to be the Sheriffs department itself,” as eight deputies “pulled out their individual cell phones and snapped images of the dead children, parents, and coaches. The deputies took these photos for their own personal satisfaction,” the suit states.
A lady who responded to the phone at OC Helicopters said the business is not commenting at this time.
On its website, OC Helicopters explains itself as a personal helicopter tour company “which brings the excitement of helicopter tours and charters to everybody.”
According to the suit, a month after she inquired, a lawyer for the sheriffs department reacted that the department had no legal commitment to react to her questions and would refrain from doing so.
” To date, the Department has not offered a single piece of substantive information in response to Mrs. Bryants private requests,” the claim states.
The claim specifies that Vanessa Bryant
discovered of the image leakage from a February Los Angeles Times post. She then requested details from the department about its examination and information on what it had done to make sure all the pictures of the crash website were protected.
In March, the constable said the department was investigating accusations that the deputies shared images of the crash scene with individuals beyond the crash examination and
eight deputies were dealing with administrative action. All photos of the crash that remained in the ownership of those deputies have been deleted, Villanueva stated.
Attorneys for Bryant stated the images were shared in settings irrelevant to the examination, consisting of at a bar. A bartender overheard a student deputy utilize his image to attempt and brag to impress the bartender and a lady submitted a composed problem with the constables department, the claim states.
