The widow of Richard Henderson, who was fatally shot on a Brooklyn subway train, intends to sue the MTA for allegedly leaking crime-scene photos of her husband.
Jakeba Dockery filed a $28.5 million notice of claim on Friday, accusing MTA workers of taking pictures of Henderson’s body lying in a pool of blood on a Manhattan-bound no. 3 train before he was declared dead on January 14 at the hospital.
This mirrors Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit over leaked photos of Kobe Bryant and their daughter, according to the New York Post.
RELATED STORIES
“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.”
Henderson, a Crown Heights resident who had three children and two grandchildren with Dockery, died while attempting to intervene in a dispute over loud music between his killer and another person. He was shot in the back and shoulder by his assailant who remains at large.
Dockery learned through a friend that crime-scene photos of her husband were being circulated on social media. This information was disclosed in the notice of claim, signaling her intention to sue the MTA.
A 10-year employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is accused of sharing crime-scene photos of Henderson with a friend, according to the notice of claim. The pictures were reportedly sent to the employee by another MTA colleague.
Dockery intends to sue the transit agency for $28.5 million, mirroring Bryant’s successful lawsuit in 2023 over leaked photos of her late husband and daughter Gianna.
According to Dockery’s notice, an MTA employee allegedly took photos of Henderson while he was alive and lying in a pool of blood, with no legitimate governmental purpose. Dockery disclosed to The Post that she received one of these photos of her late husband just a day after his death.
She mentioned seeing the graphic image on someone’s Instagram story and hearing reports of it appearing on another person’s Facebook story. Henderson and Dockery were together for 30 years and married for 20.
“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.”
The widow said the graphic images have left a lasting trauma on her knowing that her husband served as a crossing guard for a Chelsea private school for a decade and will soon have a street named after him.
Dockery revealed that their three children, aged 15, 20, and 25, have been exposed to the distressing images on social media.
“It was hard to explain their father on the train with his own blood,” the mom said.
She disclosed that her 20-year-old daughter is compelled to take the No. 3 train daily for school. Dockery further raised concerns that Henderson may have still been alive while bleeding on the ground, as he was not pronounced dead until reaching the hospital.
“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 accuses the MTA of negligence for not having a policy or procedure in place regarding the treatment of human remains. It also alleges that the MTA failed to adequately investigate and discipline employees who took and shared the photos.
