Vanessa Bryant, the widow of deceased NBA star Kobe Bryant, shared an Instagram post on Wednesday where she revealed the name of four Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies who allegedly took and shared graphic photos of the helicopter crash site where her husband, daughter and other passengers died last year.
Bryant shared multiple screenshots of court documents from a lawsuit filed against Los Angeles County, the county sheriff’s and fire departments and the four deputies, whose names were displayed throughout several posts.
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One document features the names of the deputies circled in red while the others detail allegations related to the photos of the remains of Bryant and their daughter, Gianna, and other passengers.
Fox News has declined to name the deputies over privacy concerns. The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the matter to Fox News but Sheriff Alex Villanueva took to Twitter late Wednesday, “We will refrain from trying this case in the media and will wait for the appropriate venue. Our hearts go out to all the families affected by this tragedy.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge allowed Bryant, 38, to add the deputies’ names and the results of an internal probe against them to her civil lawsuit.
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The suit alleges first responders took unauthorized photos of the crash site near the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas. Within 48 hours, at least 10 members of the department obtained photos, the lawsuit said.
One deputy allegedly took between 25 and 100 photos of the crash site with his personal cell phone.
In this Jan. 27, 2020, file photo, investigators work the scene of a helicopter crash that killed former NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant in Calabasas, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
The images were shared between deputies with no investigative purpose, the suit alleges. One deputy is alleged to have shared the photos with a restaurant bartender and made “a crude remark about the state of the victim’s remains.”
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The bartender allegedly described characteristics of Bryant’s remains to other patrons, according to documents posted on Bryant’s social media account read. He allegedly told four patrons he was shown the photos by a sheriff’s deputy.
One patron said the situation was “very, very disturbing” and said it “bothered [him] that entire night, even [on] [his] drive home,” the documents read. The patron emailed a complaint to the Sheriff’s Department from his car.
