The widow of Richard Henderson, who was fatally shot on a Brooklyn subway practice, intends to sue the MTA for allegedly leaking crime-scene photographs of her husband.
Jakeba Dockery filed a $28.5 million discover of declare on Friday, accusing MTA employees of taking footage of Henderson’s physique mendacity in a pool of blood on a Manhattan-bound no. 3 practice earlier than he was declared lifeless on January 14 on the hospital.
This mirrors Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit over leaked photographs of Kobe Bryant and their daughter, in keeping with the New York Submit.
“It makes my coronary heart drop,” Dockery advised The Submit of seeing the photographs of her mortally wounded partner. “I can’t imagine my husband is gone. To see him in his personal blood, it hurts me.”
Henderson, a Crown Heights resident who had three youngsters and two grandchildren with Dockery, died whereas trying to intervene in a dispute over loud music between his killer and one other individual. He was shot within the again and shoulder by his assailant who stays at massive.
Dockery discovered by means of a pal that crime-scene photographs of her husband have been being circulated on social media. This data was disclosed within the discover of declare, signaling her intention to sue the MTA.
A ten-year worker of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is accused of sharing crime-scene photographs of Henderson with a pal, in keeping with the discover of declare. The photographs have been reportedly despatched to the worker by one other MTA colleague.
Dockery intends to sue the transit company for $28.5 million, mirroring Bryant’s profitable lawsuit in 2023 over leaked photographs of her late husband and daughter Gianna.
Based on Dockery’s discover, an MTA worker allegedly took photographs of Henderson whereas he was alive and mendacity in a pool of blood, with no legit governmental objective. Dockery disclosed to The Submit that she obtained one among these photographs of her late husband only a day after his dying.
She talked about seeing the graphic picture on somebody’s Instagram story and listening to stories of it showing on one other individual’s Fb story. Henderson and Dockery have been collectively for 30 years and married for 20.
“I used to be devastated,” mentioned Dockery — who’s a case supervisor for veterans. “He’s a hero, and the picture of him on the ground with blood circulating — it was not good for me to see and for my youngsters to see.”
The widow mentioned the graphic pictures have left a long-lasting trauma on her figuring out that her husband served as a crossing guard for a Chelsea personal faculty for a decade and can quickly have a avenue named after him.
Dockery revealed that their three youngsters, aged 15, 20, and 25, have been uncovered to the distressing pictures on social media.
“It was exhausting to elucidate their father on the practice along with his personal blood,” the mother mentioned.
She disclosed that her 20-year-old daughter is compelled to take the No. 3 practice day by day for varsity. Dockery additional raised considerations that Henderson might have nonetheless been alive whereas bleeding on the bottom, as he was not pronounced lifeless till reaching the hospital.
“After I obtained the dying certificates, [it said] he died within the hospital,” Dockery mentioned. “So when he was on that floor … my husband was alive.
“He heard what was happening round him,” she mentioned. “They rendered no help. [Instead,] they took an image of him.”
The authorized discover accuses the MTA of negligence for not having a coverage or process in place concerning the remedy of human stays. It additionally alleges that the MTA didn’t adequately examine and self-discipline staff who took and shared the photographs.
