In 12 Instagram posts without captions on Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, revealed the names of the four Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department delegates who allegedly took or shared graphic photos of the helicopter crash, who killed the basketball legend and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in January 2020.
The posts show an amended complaint filed on Wednesday in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, which names deputies Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell and Raul Versales as defendants, as well as Los Angeles County, his department. of police and firefighters. It alleges negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the 14th Amendment.
Earlier this month, a federal judge decided that Bryant could get the names of the deputies. Initially drafted, the department’s lawyers wanted to keep their names and positions sealed.
The lawsuit claims that “deputies who responded to the accident scene used cell phones to take and share free photos of dead children, parents and coaches.” According to the case, Sheriff Alex Villanueva initially assured Bryant of privacy when she expressed concern shortly after the incident occurred.
The lawsuit alleges that a deputy took between 25 and 100 photos on the spot, which “had no conceivable investigative purpose and were directly focused on the victims’ remains”.
The action calls the actions of the deputies, who disseminate the photos by the departments through texts and AirDrop, “morbid gossip”. He details the role of each deputy in sharing the photos with people who had no connection to the investigation.
Two days after the accident, at least 10 members of the department had obtained photos, the suit said.
In one case, the suit claims that Cruz showed the photos to a client and bartender at a bar, “using his fingers to zoom in on his phone”. The bartender told investigators that Cruz showed him photos containing the victims’ remains.
One of the clients told investigators that he considered the situation “very, very disturbing”, describing Cruz’s behavior as “very inappropriate”. He was so upset that he filed a complaint with the department shortly after.
In another case, the suit claims that Russell sent photos of the victims’ remains by text message to a personal friend, who later indicated that the photos showed the remains of a child.
The suit also alleges that several of the aforementioned police officers made false statements about possession of photos of the accident site during a previous department investigation.
“We will refrain from judging this case in the media and we will wait for the appropriate location”, Villanueva tweeted Wednesday night, seeming to refer to Bryant’s Instagram posts. “Our hearts are with all the families affected by this tragedy.”