Widow Vanessa Bryant has publicly named the sheriff’s deputies that shared photos from the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, their daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
What We Know:
- On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter ruled in favor of Vanessa Bryant, granting her permission to name the accused deputies publicly. The federal judge acknowledged the concerns that the sheriffs have of in-person and social media attacks but that “such concerns, by themselves, are not sufficient to outweigh the public’s strong interest in access.”
- Vanessa Bryant filed an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department back in September. Still, the names of the deputies had been kept private. Yesterday, Mrs. Bryant took to Instagram to release court filings against deputies Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales, accusing them of taking and sharing “gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMieNu7Dr6U/
- The fatal crash occurred in Calabasas on January 26th of last year. Shortly after, the deputies were allegedly boasting about their involvement, sharing the images for no governmental purpose. The lawsuit states that anywhere between 25 and 100 images were saved on personal cell phones and shared throughout the department. The filing also claims the photos were shared with members of the public, including the deputy’s families, bar patrons, the restaurant’s bartender, and personal friends.
- Once the civil complaint was filed, the deputies promptly deleted the photos to try and throw off the internal investigation. President of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, Ron Hernandez, declined to say if the deputies named by Bryant have received any discipline for their actions or whether or not they are still employed by the department due to the ongoing investigation.
Vanessa Bryant commented on the situation, saying, “these specific deputies need to be held accountable for their actions just like everyone else.”
