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Vanessa Bryant slams attack on LeBron James over wounded cops, Internet tells LA County sheriff to 'go to hell'

Bryant blasted sheriff Alex Villanueva and called out his department over the leak of graphic photos after the tragic helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter Gianna

Shortly after Vanessa Bryant slammed Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who challenged NBA star LeBron James to match the reward money for information on the shooting of two deputies, people took to social media to support Kobe Bryant's widow. Bryant, in a series of posts on her Instagram story on Tuesday, September 15, blasted Villanueva and called out his department over the leak of graphic photos after the tragic helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter Gianna. 

Bryant's statement against Villanueva came hours after the LA County Sheriff challenged James, an outspoken critic of police misconduct, on Monday, to financially back efforts to find the gunman who shot two LA County deputies at point-blank range on Saturday night, September 12, in Compton. Villanueva has asked James to match and double the reward money being offered for information. The sheriff had said that the reward money had reached $175,000, from a combination of donations form the county and two private individuals. 

Bryant shared tweets from user @ElanMaree, which questioned the validity of Villanueva's comments concerning the criminal justice system. Villanueva, on Monday, had also urged athletes, elected officials, and civil leaders to emphasize trust in the criminal justice system, than "fanning the flames of hatred." @ElanMaree, in a tweet, asked: "How can he talk about trusting the system? His sheriff's department couldn't be trusted to secure Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash scene, his deputies took and shared graphic photos of crash victims. Vanessa Bryant is suing them."

Multiple social media users came to Bryant's support and slammed the LA cops too. One user wrote: "Seriously, why would he help @LASDHQ? They are the same department that leaked the photos of Kobe’s crash cite. LeBron and Kobe were close friends. Vanessa Bryant has a pending case against them. This is a michro-agression against LeBron because he is an active voice in the NBA." Another added: "Vanessa Bryant suing @LACoSheriff and calling him out on his bullshit for his poor job at training his officers (who took pictures of dead children) is exactly what needs to be remembered when he’s over here asking Lebron James to do more (as if it were his job to do so)."

A third wrote: "You really want Lebron James to come out of pocket to help you out after the complete heartbreak you put his dear friend Vanessa Bryant (and the other fams as well) thru w/your inept employees taking pics of her loved ones and sharing them to pick up chicks? Go to hell." Another user wrote: "@LACoSheriff
Wanting @KingJames to “step up” & double the reward money for the tragic ambush on the 2 deputies is insane. I bet Vanessa Bryant just wanted the Sheriffs department to “step up” & secure her husbands crash scene but instead pics were more important to them."

Bryant, in her series of Instagram stories, also shared an article from The Hollywood Reporter, showing that the union for deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was suing Villanueva to keep the internal affairs investigation into the distribution of the photos private. 

Bryant's lawsuit states: "No fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies were at the scene snapping cell-phone photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches," the claim reads, per People. "As the Department would later admit, there was no investigative purpose for deputies to take pictures at the crash site. Rather, the deputies took photos for their own personal purposes.”