Vanessa Bryant, widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, has requested to publicly name the Los Angeles County deputies, who allegedly shared photos of the helicopter that killed her husband, daughter, Gianna and seven others in January 2020.
In September, Bryant sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department over the “unauthorized” photos being shared. She is seeking damages for negligence, invasion of privacy and intensional inflection of emotional distress.
On Wednesday, her lawyers filed an amended complaint to add the deputies and the Los Angeles County Fire Department as defendants in the lawsuit. New court documents showed a detailed internal affairs report from the sheriff’s department that stated that one deputy took up to 100 photos at the scene. Some of the photos were quickly shared by text and other messaging apps by deputies. The deputies name’s were blacked out in the complaint, and it’s up to the courts to decide whether it should be sealed or not.
“These specific deputies need to be held accountable for their actions just like everyone else,” Bryant wrote in a Saturday Instagram story.
The Los Angeles Times reported that lawyers for the county have argued to keep the deputies’ names sealed otherwise their personal information, like their home addresses, would be known to the public. The deputies then will likely be targeted by hackers who want to publish the photos.
The lawsuit also alleged that Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva personally assured Bryant that deputies secured the area where the crash occurred to protect her privacy. Villanueva later told Bryant that he ordered his deputies to destroy the photos after discovering the “wildy inappropriate” situation, according to the complaint.
In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill prohibiting first responders to take unauthorized photos of the dead at the scene of a crime or accident.
100 CELEBRITIES WHO DIES IN 2020 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW!
