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Judge rules LA County deputies who shared photos of Kobe Bryant crash scene can be named: report

By KJ Hiramoto
Published  March 9, 2021 7:09am PST
Kobe Bryant
FOX 11

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge has ruled that Vanessa Bryant can get the names of the four Los Angeles County deputies accused of sharing photos of the crash scene that killed her husband Kobe, the couple's daughter Gianna and seven others, according to a report.

The ruling reported by the Los Angeles Times means that Vanessa Bryant's lawyers can add the deputies' names and details from the internal affairs investigation to an amended complaint in her civil suit against the county, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 

• Vanessa Bryant sues LA County Sheriff Villanueva, LASD over leaked helicopter crash scene photos

• Vanessa Bryant reacts after LA Sheriff's Dept. seeks to redact deputies' names for security reasons

Minutes after LA Times published the report on the judge's ruling, Vanessa Bryant shared screenshots of the article, which showed the headline, in-part, "In win for Vanessa Bryant..."

"Thank you Judge John F. Walter, Luis Li and @latimes," Vanessa Bryant's post read.

Deputies who shared Kobe Bryant crash pictures can be named

A federal judge has ruled that Vanessa Bryant can get the names of the four Los Angeles County deputies accused of sharing photos of the crash scene that killed her husband Kobe, the couple's daughter Gianna and seven others.

Back in September 2020, the widow of the late Los Angeles Lakers legend filed a suit against the three defendants after the deputies allegedly took personal photos on their phones which showed the bodies of Kobe and Gianna Bryant from the scene.

The lawsuit, obtained by FOX 11 back in September of 2020, accuses one of the deputies of showing the photos to a woman he was trying to impress at a bar. The bartender overheard the conversation, blew the whistle and filed a written complaint with the sheriff's department.

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