Sheriff 's deputies undressed the body of a 20-year-old car crash victim then took inappropriate nude photos of her at the side of the road , her mother has claimed . Christina Mejia first outlined her accusations in a lawsuit filed against the Cook County Sheriff 's Office in Illinois in 2010 and the trial is scheduled to begin next week . Her daughter , Jessica Mejia , was killed in the early hours of December 31 , 2009 when her ex-boyfriend , Nicholas Sord , lost control of the car they were traveling in and smashed into a pole . When deputies arrived on the scene , they improperly removed clothing from Mejia 's dead body and took photographs of her , according to the lawsuit . Scroll down for video . Heartbroken : Christina Mejia is pictured talking about her daughter Jessica , who was killed in a car crash in 2009 . She is suing the responding deputies for stripping her daughter nearly naked and taking photos . Loss : Jessica Mejia , 20 , was killed when her drunk ex-boyfriend smashed their car into a pole in 2009 . The young woman had been wearing a white t-shirt , jeans and high-heeled shoes but was photographed wearing just her lower undergarment , according to the Chicago Tribune . By doing so , the deputies intentionally caused emotional distress to the victim 's family , they say . 'This was a young lady that just died and was treated with less dignity than a deer carcass you find on the side of the road , ' family attorney Don Perry told the Tribune . Mrs Mejia added that the photos had left her feeling 'violated ' and she accused the deputies ' actions of perpetuating false rumors that the car had crashed because her daughter was on top of Sord . ' ( People ) think my daughter died from having sex , not from somebody being drunk and killing her , ' the heartbroken mother told the Tribune . 'By the time everybody else got to the scene ... she was partially naked because they made her naked . So the rumors , and the allegations ... they made it believable . ' But the sheriff 's office insisted that it took the photographs at the scene in order to gather evidence that ultimately helped to convict Sord . They called the images 'standard operating procedure ' . Locked up : Nicholas Sord , left , was sentenced to 56 months in prison for the deadly crash . Mejia 's family filed a lawsuit against the sheriff 's office for taking the photos and the trial will begin next week . 'The family suffered an unimaginable loss , and the crime scene photos were taken as our officers investigated this crime and were instrumental in securing a conviction against the person responsible for this tragic death , ' spokeswoman Cara Smith said . 'In no way were these photos intended to cause harm to the family . ' Sord , whose blood alcohol level was .236 per cent when he smashed his Mercedes SUV into a pole , pleaded guilty to drunken driving last fall and was sentenced to 56 months in prison . Sord was a business partner with former Chicago Blackhawks player Denis Savard and is the son of Bryan Sord , a prominent developer and restaurateur . He and Mejia had dated but had broken up months before the crash . Mejia was studying psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago when she died .
Jessica Mejia , 20 , died when her drunk ex - boyfriend smashed their motorcycle into a pole in Cook County , Illinois in December 2009 . Sheriff 's deputies improperly undressed the young woman 's body at the scene and took photographs of her , leading to her mother 's lawsuit . But the sheriff 's office decided it was necessary to take the photographs in order to preserve evidence that ultimately put the ex - boyfriend behind bars . The case goes to trial next year .