Sue over State Police giving bloody photo

[BPLive]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

I am 30 years old. My mother died tragically in a car accident. She was a state worker on the way to work wearing her photo state ID. Later after the 2 troopers came to our house to tell us of the accident, the trooper pulled me aside and gave me the bloody ID Photo of my mom in a Bio-hazzard bag. The inside was even more bloody from the rain water in it. In shock I left the bag in my room for 3 days, but then the smell was very bad. A friend of mine had to get rid of it. I can't get the image out of my head and feel this was very mishandled and lazyness of the State Police of NJ.

Can I sue for pain and suffering? Thanks

 

[MathFanatic09]

I am very sorry for your loss. Many times when we lose loved ones, our feelings toward a related situation are magnified 1000x, and I can see that happened here.
I strongly disagree with how the presentation of the ID was conducted, but I cannot say whether they simply followed protocol or not. As distasteful as it is, it may just be the way things are done. That being said, to the best of my knowledge, you would not be able to collect pain and suffering in a case such as this. I would go so far as to cite the Nikki Catsouras case. Clear negligence on the part of the team conducting the investigation caused the family involved tremendous grief beyond the initial accident. However, no recovery was awarded.
Perhaps you can place a call and tell how you felt this was entirely inappropriate. Perhaps a future policy change will prevent this from happening to others.
I wish you the best