Vanessa Bryant (Photo: via Getty Images)
Roommates, it’s been over a year since the legendary Kobe Bryant tragically passed away in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gigi—now those responsible for sharing the photos of the crash site will be exposed, thanks to Vanessa Bryant. A judge recently ruled in favor of Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit stating that the deputies who shared the horrific images of crash will have their identities revealed to the public.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter formally rejected efforts by lawyers for Los Angeles County to keep all the names of the deputies responsible for sharing Kobe Bryant’s crash site photo sealed from the public. Now that the ruling is official, Vanessa Bryant can move forward with adding the names of the deputies, along with details from the internal affairs investigation about their conduct, to an amended complaint in her civil rights lawsuit against L.A. County and the local Sheriff’s Department headed by Alex Villanueva.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the deputies argued that their clients would be the target of online hackers and public scrutiny if their names and personal information was released—the judge disagreed with their claims and sided with Vanessa instead.
Judge Walter wrote, “Sheriff Villanueva’s promise to publicly release the [internal affairs bureau] report after the conclusion of the investigation undermines Defendants’ purported concern in the disclosure of the limited excerpts at issue here.”
He continued, adding that there is “a strong presumption of access as a starting point” and the county failed to show compelling reasons to do otherwise.
L.A. County attorneys have four days to appeal the judge’s ruling.
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