Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press
A federal judge ruled that Vanessa Bryant can obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff delegates who allegedly shared photos of the consequences of the January 2020 helicopter accident that killed nine people, including her husband, Kobe, and their daughter, Gianna.
Richard Winton of Los Angeles Times reported the news, noting that US District Judge John F. Walter made the decision on Monday.
Los Angeles County attorneys wanted to keep their names confidential in the process and suggested that making them public could make deputies targets of hackers. They now have four days to appeal Monday’s decision.
“Sheriff Villanueva’s promise to publicly disclose the [internal affairs bureau] report after the conclusion of the investigation undermines the Defendants ‘alleged concern in disclosing the limited excerpts in question here, “wrote the judge, while ruling that knowledge of the policeman’ s misconduct should be accessible to the public.
This happened after Bryant asked for the names to be released in an Instagram post last month:
“Faced with a scene of unimaginable loss, no fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies at the scene of the accident took out their personal cell phones and took pictures of the dead children, parents and coaches,” Bryant’s lawsuit said, Jonathan Lloyd of NBC Los Angeles. “The deputies took these pictures for their own personal gratification.”
The lawsuit, which seeks compensation for negligence and invasion of privacy, also claims that deputies and firefighters shared the photos in an unauthorized manner.
The county said all shared photos were deleted.