Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant commemorated International Women’s Day Sunday with her three daughters, Natalia, Bianka and Capri by changing up her social media profile image to a snapshot of the four alongside a mural dedicated to her late husband and their daughter, Gianna. Over the weekend, Bryant took to Instagram to share a snapshot of her eldest, 17-year-old Natalia celebrating her Winter Formal at high school while posing in front of a memorial dedicated to the late Los Angeles Lakers icon and 13-year-old, Gianna, who died in a helicopter crash with seven others on Jan. 26 in Calabasas, California.
The post and profile photo change (full photo below) was Bryant’s first on Instagram in nearly a week. On March 1, Bryant shared a statement from her attorney, Gary Robb in response to reports that deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took photographs of the crash site and shared them among themselves.
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Following the investigation, Vanessa has been “absolutely devastated” by the actions of the department with its law enforcement officers sharing graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, daughter and seven others. In a statement issued by her lawyer, Vanessa is incredibly upset over the reports from the department, as they continue their investigation over the heinous act. However, she is notably “grateful” to the individual who filed the complaint against the department as a way to “protect human dignity.”
While TMZ alleges the source was a bartender who overheard the conversation and filed an online complaint, the agency is also reporting that the Sheriff’s Department knew about this leak for almost three weeks, with the deputy trainee in question showing the photos off to a woman in a bar, just days after the crash.
In the statement posted by Kobe’s widow, Robb states his client personally went to the Sheriff’s office on the day of the crash, requesting that the area be “designated a no-fly zone and protected from photographers.”
This was obviously not the case as the Los Angeles Times reported a “public safety source with knowledge of the events” had allegedly seen one of the photos on the phone of another official amid a setting not related to the investigation of the crash. The source reported photos shared showed graphic images of the scene and the remains of victims.
Bryant’s statement goes on to cite how the privacy of such photographs was of “critical importance to her as she desired to protect the dignity of all the victims, and their families.”
On Sunday, it was reported that while deputies of the department are facing potential discipline after allegedly taking photos of the helicopter crash site, the department is now asking the civilian oversight panel to examine future policies on taking photographs of crime and accident scenes.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Sheriff Alex Villanueva has asked the panel to review the policies after the controversial incident. He revealed last week that eight deputies had been involved in taking and sharing the crash site photos of Bryant and other victims. Villanueva ordered these images be destroyed and said that there was a “sense of betrayal” upon learning they were shared.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
