Vanessa Bryant wants a judge to punish Los Angeles County officials for destroying photos of Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash that were allegedly shared, according to court papers filed by her lawyers.Related video above: How Vanessa Bryant found out about the deaths of her daughter and husband"Law enforcement officials whose job is to investigate wrongdoing know that the first step in investigating a complaint is to preserve evidence and that destroying evidence is improper," said the motion, filed on Monday. "Yet that is exactly what Sheriff (Alex) Villanueva himself ordered Department personnel to do after the Department received a citizen's complaint that a Sheriff's deputy was showing photos of the crash site at a bar in Norwalk. That order was highly irregular — unprecedented in deputies' experience — and out of the chain of command."Photos of the January 2020 helicopter crash that killed the NBA legend, his daughter, and seven others, were allegedly shared with people outside of the investigation. In March 2020, L.A. County Sheriff Villanueva said all of those photos had been deleted. Bryant is suing the county over the alleged photo sharing claiming emotional distress, and a violation of privacy."In these circumstances, it is simply unfair to let Defendants argue that the photos were contained and that the risk of trauma is illusory," said Bryant's lawyers in a motion filed Tuesday. Lawyers request summary judgment, trial, and an order precluding defendants from arguing that the photos were not spread electronically."While the County continues to have the deepest sympathy for the grief Ms. Bryant has suffered, the request by her lawyers for sanctions is an attempt to distract attention from the fact that none of the routine investigative photos taken by County employees have ever been publicly disseminated," said Skip Miller, partner of the Miller Barondess law firm and outside counsel for L.A. County.The matter is expected to be discussed on Nov. 29 in Los Angeles.

Related video above: Vanessa Bryant finds 'one more letter' from late husband, Kobe BryantLos Angeles County wants to compel the widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and others involved in a lawsuit over leaked photos of the helicopter crash that killed him, their daughter and seven others to take psychiatric exams before the case goes to trial, court filings show.In a motion filed in court Friday, Los Angeles County argued independent medical examinations are necessary to determine whether the emotional distress suffered by Bryant and others were caused by the leak of the photos or the helicopter crash itself.Vanessa Bryant's civil lawsuit against Los Angeles County claims photos of the January 2020 crash were shared by county fire and sheriff's department employees in settings irrelevant to the investigation, including at a bar. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages, claiming civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and violation of privacy.A "central tenet" of the county's defense is the "severe emotional and mental injuries were not caused by any conduct of Defendants, but rather by the tragic helicopter crash and resulting deaths of their loved ones," the court filing says. The county argues the plaintiffs "cannot be suffering distress from accident site photos that they have never seen and that were never publicly disseminated."The plaintiffs are seeking "tens of millions of dollars to compensate them for their alleged mental and emotional injuries," the county says, and the medical examinations would help evaluate the "existence, extent and cause" of their "alleged harm."Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant and the other plaintiffs argued against the examinations, saying a "complaint that merely claims damages for emotional distress does not place a party's mental condition 'in controversy.'" They added the county should work to evaluate emotional stress by "less intrusive means.""It does not take an expert -- and it certainly does not take an involuntary eight-hour psychiatric examination -- for a jury to assess the nature and extent of the emotional distress caused by Defendants' misconduct," attorneys for Bryant said.The plaintiffs' distress "are the feelings that any reasonable person would experience if the public officials entrusted to protect the dignity of their deceased family members snapped graphic photos of their loved ones' remains, used the photos for cocktail-hour entertainment, and failed to contain and secure the photos."A hearing on the matter is slated for Nov. 5, according to Friday's court filing, and the trial is set to begin in February 2022.Earlier this year, family members of those killed in the crash settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the company that owned and operated the helicopter.

Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant who died early last year in a helicopter crash, released the name of the officers who had allegedly taken pictures of his body on her Instagram account Wednesday.In a series of 12 posts, she showed portions of her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's and Fire Departments. The posts show names of officers she has accused of taking pictures of both her husband and daughter Gianna, 13, who also died in the crash. The names were highlighted in a red square.A federal judge in California ruled this month that Bryant could obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.An effort by Los Angeles County lawyers to keep the deputies’ names under seal was rejected Monday by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, the Los Angeles Times reported. Kobe Bryant and the others were killed Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter they were aboard crashed west of Los Angeles in the hills of Calabasas. Related video — U.S. safety panel: pilot error likely in Bryant crashThe Times later reported that an investigation found deputies shared photos of victims’ remains. Vanessa Bryant sued, seeking damages for negligence and invasion of privacy.County lawyers argued that the deputies’ names should remain under seal because releasing them would make it easy for hackers to locate their personal information and addresses.The judge wrote that Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s “promise to publicly release the (internal affairs bureau) report after the conclusion of the investigation undermines Defendants’ purported concern in the disclosure of the limited excerpts at issue here.”The judge also wrote that the public has a vested interest in assessing the truthfulness of allegations of police misconduct.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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