Photo credit: Harry How/ Getty
A federal judge has ruled that the identities of four Los Angeles County deputies accused of sharing images from Kobe Bryant’s crash site be unsealed.
Vanessa Bryant has sued to seek damages for negligence, invasion of privacy, and emotional distress. Bryant sued less than four months after the photo taken at the scene by deputies and firefighters were leaked. The suit criticized the departments’ response after Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva admitted to photos and visuals being passed around.
Rather than formally investigate the allegations to identify the extent of dissemination and contain the spread of the photos, Department leadership reportedly told deputies that they would face no discipline if they just deleted the photos,” the initial filing reads.
“Mrs. Bryant was distressed to learn that the Department did not initiate a formal investigation until after the L.A. Times broke the story on or about February 28, and that the Department had taken few if any steps to contain the spread of the photos.”
