A series of images on Vanessa Bryant’s Instagram Wednesday revealed the names of the four deputies who allegedly took graphic photos of the late Kobe Bryant’s crash site. The photos were part of an amended complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, CNN reports.
- The complaint was added to the ongoing lawsuit from Vanessa Bryant, who seeks damages and claims the four Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers showed negligence and invasion of privacy by snapping those pictures.
Per CNN, the new complaint alleges that deputy Joey Cruz “boasted that he had worked at the scene of the accident where Kobe Bryant had died” and shared pictures to a bartender on Jan. 28, 2020.
- The complaint alleges that Cruz also showed the pictures to his own niece.
- The bartender said he told other customers that he saw the photos. One of the customers said the entire ordeal was “very, very disturbing,” according to CNN.
Flashback
In an Instagram post in February, Vanessa Bryant called on the sheriff’s department to release the names of the officers who took the photos, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Earlier in March, a judge ruled that Vanessa Bryant would receive the names, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Context
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told The Los Angeles Times in February 2020 that it began an investigation into officials sharing the graphic photos with other people.
Seven months later, Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department, claiming deputies had shared graphic photos of her husband’s crash site, The Guardian reports.