It's no holds barred for Vanessa Bryant who decided to give a few sheriffs a little publicity. We previously reported on Vanessa scoring a victory in court against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department after a judge ruled in her favor, stating that the department couldn't keep secret the names of certain officers involved in a scandal. Back in January 2020 when Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old Gianna Bryant, and seven of their friends tragically died in a helicopter crash in Southern California, several officers reportedly took photos of the gruesome site, including pictures of remains, and reportedly showed them to others.
A judge recently stated that the sheriff's department couldn't keep the names of the officers under wraps, even though the department reportedly argued that the publicity itself could be damaging. On Wednesday (March 17), Vanessa set aside some time to share screenshots of court documents that listed the names of the officers involved.
Both the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the L.A. County Fire Department are shown as plaintiffs along with Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales. The document states: "Deputies who responded to the crash scene used personal cell phones to take and share gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches." It adds that one deputy took anywhere from 25 to 100 photos on his personal phone, citing that none of the pictures were saved with investigatory intent.
It further alleges that deputies began sending the photos to one another via AirDrop and soon, people outside of the department began to receive them, as well. The paperwork also details how each named deputy was involved in the scandal and how they gossiped about and-or shared the pictures with family, friends, and colleagues. So many deputies and officers reportedly saw the photos that a detective couldn't even tell investigators who sent him the pictures.
You can read through Vanessa Bryant's posts below in the order that she shared them to receive the official story in full.