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WIDOW OF VICTIM IN FATAL SUBWAY SHOOTING TO SUE MTA FOR $28M OVER LEAKED SCENE
PHOTOS — JUST LIKE KOBE BRYANT CASE

By Priscilla DeGregory

Published March 10, 2024, 1:02 p.m. ET

The widow of a man fatally shot on a Brooklyn subway train plans to sue the MTA
for allegedly leaking crime-scene photos of her husband — in a move similar to
Vanessa Bryant suing over the helicopter-crash photos of late hubby Kobe Bryant
and their daughter.

Jakeba Dockery, 42, filed a $28.5 million notice of claim with the city Friday
accusing MTA workers of snapping pictures of husband Richard Henderson, 45,
laying in a pool of his own blood on a Manhattan-bound No. 3 train before the
beloved school crossing guard and grandfather was declared dead at the hospital
later that day, Jan. 14.

“It makes my heart drop,” Dockery told The Post of seeing the photos of her
mortally wounded spouse. “I can’t believe my husband is gone. To see him in his
own blood, it hurts me.”

10
Jakeba Dockery is planning to sue the MTA for allegedly leaking crime-scene
photos of her husband Richard Henderson after he was shot and killed on a
Brooklyn subway train in January 2024. Stephen Yang

Henderson — a Crown Heights man who shared three children and two grandchildren
with Dockery — tragically died trying to break up a fight over loud music
between his killer and another man before he was shot in the back and shoulder.

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Dockery found out from a friend that the photos “were publicly being
disseminated on social media and the like,” according to the notice of claim —
the legal precursor to bringing a lawsuit against a municipal agency.

In fact, a 10-year Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee allegedly
shared with the friend the pictures, which the worker had been sent by another
MTA colleague, the notice alleges.

Dockery plans to sue the transit agency for $28.5 million — the same amount
Vanessa Bryant, 41, was awarded in 2023 after photos of the January 2020
helicopter crash that killed her NBA legend husband Kobe Bryant, 41, and their
daughter Gianna, 13, were leaked by the Los Angeles sheriff and fire department
employees.

10
Henderson was shot while trying to break up a fight between two other passengers
on a 3 train. Handout

An MTA employee “took photos of Richard Henderson … while he was alive and
laying in a pool of his own blood,” Dockery’s notice claims, noting that the
photos had no “legitimate governmental purpose.”

Dockery told The Post she was sent one of the graphic photos of Henderson — whom
she was with for 30 years and married to for 20 years — just a day after he
died. She said she also saw the image on someone’s story on Instagram and heard
from others that the photo was on another person’s Facebook story as well.

“I was devastated,” said Dockery — who is a case manager for veterans. “He’s a
hero, and the image of him on the floor with blood circulating — it was not good
for me to see and for my children to see.

10
NYPD investigatros at the scene of the subway shooting on Jan. 14, 2024. Wayne
Carrington

“That image is always in my head,” the widow said of her husband, who was a
crossing guard for a private school in Chelsea for 10 years on a street that
will soon be named after him.

Dockery said their three kids, ages 15, 20 and 25, are all on social media and
saw the grim images.

“It was hard to explain their father on the train with his own blood,” the mom
said.

In fact, her 20-year-old daughter is forced to take the No. 3 train every day to
school, Dockery said.

10
According to the filing, photos of Henderson lying in a pool of his own blood
were shared on social media by MTA employees. Handout

“She cries on the train. I don’t know what to tell her anymore,” the mom said.
“It’s a trigger.”

While Dockery sends her 15-year-old daughter to school in an Uber, the mother
can’t come up with the money to also send the older daughter to school that way.

“I can’t afford to put her in an Uber every day, so she is forced to get on that
train,” Dockery explained.

Because of the “unnecessary taking and sharing images of the deceased as he was
dying or in death … Dockery has suffered, and continues to suffer, severe
emotional distress,” the notice of claim alleges.

And because of the MTA employee’s actions, Dockery was deprived “of her
substantive due process right to control the physical remains, memory, and death
images of her deceased husband,” the notice charges.

10
Dockery with her son Richard Jr. and daughter Lavina. Stephen Yang
10
Dockery said the couple’s children have all seen the images on social media.
Stephen Yang

The widow says that since Henderson wasn’t declared dead until he reached the
hospital, he may have still been alive while he was bleeding on the ground.

“When I got the death certificate, [it said] he died in the hospital,” Dockery
said. “So when he was on that ground … my husband was alive.

“He heard what was going on around him,” she said. “They rendered no aid.
[Instead,] they took a picture of him.”

The legal notice alleges negligence against the MTA for failing to “establish a
policy or procedure addressing the treatment of human remains” and for failing
to properly investigate and discipline employees for taking these pictures and
sharing them.

10
A memorial for Henderson at The World School, where he worked as a crossing
guard. Matthew McDermott
10
Students at The World School visiting a memorial for Henderson. Matthew
McDermott

Sanford Rubenstein and Mark Shirian, lawyers for Dockery and the estate of her
husband, said through the planned lawsuit that they will be able to take the
sworn depositions of the MTA workers involved to determine everyone who took
photos, how many photos were taken and everyone who distributed them.

“Just like the family of the late Kobe Bryant was entitled to damages from Los
Angeles County to resolve a lawsuit over deputies and firefighters sharing
grisly photos of the late NBA superstar and his 13-year-old daughter killed in a
2020 helicopter crash, the family of Richard Henderson — a real life hero here
in New York City — is entitled to damages from the appropriate government agency
for the unauthorized release and publication by employees of grisly photos of
him at death’s door,” Rubenstein and Shirian said in a statement to The Post.

In February 2023, Vanessa Bryant was awarded the massive sum in a settlement
with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors after first responders took
gruesome photos of the mangled remains of her five-time NBA champion husband and
of their daughter.

10
Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa Bryant sued the LAPD for sharing images of the crash
that killed her husband and daughter. AFP via Getty Images

Responders then shared the images they took with employees of the LA County
sheriff’s and fire departments — photos which were also seen by some of their
spouses.

The father and daughter had been traveling to Gianna’s youth basketball camp,
which the retired Los Angelees Laker superstar was going to coach. Seven others
on board the chopper also perished in the crash near Calabasas, Calif.

Vanessa Bryant won a $15 million jury verdict in August 2022 but settled for the
larger figure to resolve any potential future claims from her surviving
daughters Natalia, 21, Bianka, 7, and Capri, 4.

10
Vanessa Bryant recieved a $28.5 million settlement from the lawsuit. REUTERS

While Dockery said she thinks a similar award is warranted in her case, she
noted, “No dollar amount will bring my husband back.”

But Dockery said she hopes for a measure of justice for herself, and she hopes
the legal action will bring about change in the MTA so that no one else will be
forced to go through what she endured.

A rep with the MTA declined to comment Friday.

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