Deputies accused of sharing Kobe Bryant crash photos can be named, judge rules

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The names of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies who allegedly shared photos of human remains in the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter cannot be kept secret, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter, who is overseeing a lawsuit filed by Bryant’s widow against the sheriff’s department, ruled late Monday that the public has a vested interest in whether agencies that are responsible for investigating and adjudicating complaints of misconduct have acted properly and wisely.

Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, in 2018. Richard Shotwell / AP file

“Although the Court recognizes that this case has been the subject of public scrutiny and media attention and that the Deputy Defendants are legitimately concerned that they will encounter vitriol and social media attacks, such concerns, by themselves, are not sufficient to outweigh the public’s strong interest in access," the ruling said.

Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, sued Los Angeles county and its sheriff’s department in September, accusing county employees of having “showed off” photos of the remains of her husband and teenage daughter. Deputies allegedly shared the photos among themselves and with others for no law enforcement purpose, the lawsuit said.

Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were killed along with seven others when their helicopter went down on the way to a youth basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, California, on Jan. 29, 2020.

The sheriff’s department did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Tuesday.

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It has previously acknowledged that first responders, including deputies and Los Angeles County Fire Department employees, had taken and shared photos of the victims' remains at the crash site.

Villanueva has said in media interviews that he had ordered all photos be destroyed. The department has also said that shortly after the crash, Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva sponsored legislation that now makes it a crime for public safety personnel to take and share non-official pictures “of this nature.”

It was not immediately clear if the names of Los Angeles County Fire Department employees accused of misconduct would also be released.

In an Instagram post in February, Bryant publicly called for the sheriff's department to release the names of the deputies who were allegedly caught sharing the photos. She said redacting or concealing the names from the public created a double-standard of accountability.

"They want their names to be exempt from the public," she posted. "Anyone else facing these allegations would be unprotected, named and released to the public."

In Monday's ruling, Walter said one of the county’s arguments in attempting to keep the deputies' names secret seemed to contradict the sheriff's statements that the photos had been destroyed.

County lawyers had said they were concerned that someone might break into one of the deputies' private social media or internet accounts and obtain copies of the photos.

"Defendants’ concern that hackers may attempt to seek out and gain access to the individual deputies’ devices to locate any photographs and publish them is totally inconsistent with their position that such photographs no longer exist," the judge said.

After Monday's ruling, Bryant thanked Walter and attorney Luis Li in a new Instagram post.

Quoting Li's comment to the Los Angeles Times, she wrote: "Transparency promotes accountability. We look forward to presenting Mrs. Bryant’s case in open court."

8976r7 on March 9th, 2021 at 19:33 UTC »

Chris Dorner said the police (LAPD) take photos of your loved ones dying and then at the end of the night, have a competition to see who has the goriest photo on their phone. He said a lot of things about the LAPD in his manifesto, and it's obvious now they were all true. I just wish Dorner hadn't killed innocent people or he would have died a hero.

panther514 on March 9th, 2021 at 16:15 UTC »

no fun when the rabbit has the gun..we REALLY need to know who the dumbf*ck was who used the photos to pick up women

vkashen on March 9th, 2021 at 15:21 UTC »

I'm a firefighter and often some of the new firefighters in my dept want to pull out their phones and start filming at a scene (fire, MVA, etc.) but the hammer gets put down on them so fast it's insane. And for good reason. I have a crapload of video from training (we re-train routinely) which makes sense, but I can't imagine first responders taking video from a "hey, this is cool" perspective, though I understand why investigators film and take pictures of everything.

These guys need to be seriously punished for egregious violations of the family's privacy.

Edit: got crap for the way I worded something, making it easier....