A new report from The Los Angeles Times suggests that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies linked to displaying the gruesome Kobe Bryant crash scene photos in a California bar were offered a deal to avoid discipline.
What’s going on?
Last week, a report from The Los Angeles Times suggested that photos of Kobe Bryant’s crash site — which were deemed extremely graphic — were leaked, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
- The report suggested the deputies were told they would avoid punishment if they admitted their involvement in the photo scandal and deleted the pictures.
- But, according to The Los Angeles Times, this could lead to a destruction of evidence charge.
- The sheriff’s department launched an investigation after the deputies allegedly shared the pictures.
- The Civilian Oversight Commission planned to interview officials about the matter.
- Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a statement: “Every police department struggles with the same thing, where people take photos and they’re not evidence. So that’s a practice we have to make sure that everyone walks away, and there is no evidence other than the official photos of evidence that are taken for criminal purposes.”
- The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said an investigation will continue.
What other reactions have there been?
Vanessa Bryant’s lawyer released a statement this week that said she was “devastated“ by the release of the photos, according to an Instagram post from Vanessa Bryant.
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Bryant reportedly visited the police department to make sure the area could not covered by reporters.