LOS ANGELES -- Two Los Angeles County firefighters could be fired and a third suspended after some first responders took and shared graphic photos from the site of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his teenage daughter and seven others, court documents say. At issue: graphic victim photos taken on personal cellphones by emergency workers at the helicopter crash site in which nine people died, including the retired Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. The suit claims the Sheriff never gave the family clear answers, and now Vanessa lives in constant fear that the devastating photos will leak to the public. Bryant filed a lawsuit against the county and other defendants over allegations that LA sheriff's deputies and Los Angeles County Fire Department captains took and shared photos of the helicopter crash site in late January 2020. L.A. County's top fire official took the stand in the federal trial concerning gruesome photos taken at the scene of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others. New court filings allege that dozens of public employees were aware of grisly imagery in Kobe Bryant crash photo lawsuit. Bryant, sitting in the courtroom, repeatedly wiped away tears and, at times, held her head in her hands. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Heres todays Mini Crossword, and a clue: Gush forth (4 letters). Plaintiffs cannot claim that they are suffering from ongoing depression, anxiety and severe emotional distress and then balk at having to support their claims., Vanessas attorneys slammed the request, calling out the county for trying to force the evaluations on all of the surviving family, including four teenagers, a 10-year-old child, and a 5-year-old kindergartener., The lawyers added in their response filings: "The County has resorted to scorched-earth discovery tactics designed to bully Plaintiffs into abandoning their pursuit of accountability.". Lawyers representing Los Angeles County said that taking photographs of fatal crime and accident scenes was common practice for investigative and information-sharing purposes, and that no crash site photos had ever been distributed publicly because, in part, all county personnel deleted the images from their phones and they cannot be recovered. Vanessa's original lawsuit filing also alleges the crash photos were a topic of discussion within the sheriff's department, as deputies allowed their colleagues to see the photos that had no investigative purpose. On January 26, 2020, a helicopter transporting Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and the baseball coach John Altobelli and his family crashed near Malibu, California, as they were heading to a girls basketball game. Copyright 2023 Then, the employee who received the photos shared them with a group of off-duty firefighters and their wives and girlfriends during an awards ceremony at a Hilton hotel in February 2020, the paperwork states. The court documents were filed Monday as part of widow Vanessa Bryant's federal lawsuit against Los Angeles County that alleges invasion of privacy. Sheriff Alex Villanueva condemned the deputies' behavior and, in a move that has since been heavily criticized, ordered them to delete the photos. The jury also awarded $15million to Vanessa's co-plaintiff, Chris Chester, who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. "It is our understanding that this is an ongoing investigation," Hernandez said in a previous statement to NBC News. "That was my No. The sheriff's department initially withheld from the public court file the names of four of the accused deputies, citing concerns they would be targeted for harassment or hacking if publicly identified. Vanessas lawyers revealed the firefighters alleged misconduct in a Monday motion asking for more time to follow new leads and collect more devices for forensic examination. WebThe Los Angeles County Fire Department will reportedly fire two firefighters for their role in sharing the graphic photos from Kobe Bryants death. All rights reserved. WebPhotos of the bodies of the Lakers star Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others who died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles in January 2020 were The deputies allegedly snapped photos of the dead children, their parents and coaches, according to the lawsuit filed last year by Vanessa Bryant in Los Angeles. Many social media users have claimed to have seen photos of the victims remains, and their accounts are plausible given the number of deputies who took photos, the ease with which cellphone pictures are transmitted and saved in cloud storage, and the Sheriffs Departments egregious failure to take reasonable steps to prevent dissemination of the photos.. The captain, whose name is not included in the court declaration, said he was told by superiors that if deputies deleted the photos "there would be no discipline," but if the photos became public, "all bets were off and they would be fired.". The third firefighter was suspended, the filing claims without naming any of the involved personnel. Bryant is suing the county for negligence, emotional distress, and invasion of privacy claims as well as federal claims which relate to the constitutional right to the images of her deceased loved ones, and LA County agency practices that led to the alleged taking and dissemination of photos. Ron Haralson, a spokesperson for the county fire department, declined to comment, citing the lawsuit. Gutierrez told the court that first, he winced. I was there. She stood up and walked out, wiping tears from her eyes. The Monday filing by Bryant's attorneys also included more specific information drawn from a confidential sheriff's department internal affairs report that said the captain of the Malibu-Lost Hills station attempted to stop deputies from deleting the photos, warning they could be violating the law by destroying evidence. That's when a bartender overheard the conversation and blew the whistle by reporting the information to the sheriff's department. USA Todayreports the filings read: "Despite putting their mental condition front and center in this case, Plaintiffs refuse to submit to independent medical examinations (IMEs). Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Capt. Well be back on Monday. And that is fact, not speculation.. The employment status of all three was not immediately clear Wednesday. A private citizen said he felt a "sense of betrayal" when a Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy showed grisly photos of Kobe Bryant's dead body to a bartender, who went table-to-table telling patrons and employees about what he had just seen. In Vanessa's lawsuit, she claims Sheriff Alex Villanueva attempted to cover up the misconduct by going to the department substation that responded to the crash and told deputies they'd get off scot-free if they deleted the photos. A jury awarded Vanessa Bryant $16 million in emotional distress damages in her trial against LA County first responders. I was in disbelief, Mendez, a real estate investor from Cerritos, said from the witness stand. In subsequent filings, Bryant's legal team also said it learned by examining internal documents from the sheriff's department and fire department that as many as 66 county employees had knowledge of the photos and at least 18, including the four named deputies, had either taken or shared the pictures directly. Vanessa Bryant previously claimed in court papers that Sheriff Villanueva's direction to delete the photos amounted to an attempt to destroy evidence. Both Bryant and Chester left the courtroom ahead of her testimony. He took his own photos the next day, the Times reported, but denied taking photos of the victims' bodies and said he did not take photos with his personal cellphone. Tauscher painted a gruesome picture of the crash site, offering detailed insight into the grisly scene that would've been captured in the photos. Sheriff's deputies and firefighters accused of circulating photographs of Kobe Bryants body at the scene of his death have begun testifying in court. She told the courtroom that the coroner's office did not invite the families to identify their loved ones after the crash because of the intense and unidentifiable nature of their condition. Capt. His testimony about the nature of the photos forced Vanessa Bryant to leave the courtroom early. An internal investigation by the Los Angeles County Fire Department found that two firefighters -- whose names were not disclosed in the court filings -- had taken photos of the bodies in the helicopter wreckage that "served no business necessity," Vanessa Bryant's attorneys wrote, and "only served to appeal to baser instincts and desires for what amounted to visual gossip.". The captain, whose name is not included in the court declaration, said he was told by superiors that if deputies deleted the photos "there would be no discipline," but if the photos became public, "all bets were off and they would be fired.". Two Los Angeles sheriff's deputies who shared graphic photos of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed nine people, including NBA star Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, were among the first to publicly express remorse for their role in the county-wide spread of the photos while testifying on Tuesday.. Deputies Joey Cruz and Michael You must enable JavaScript in your browser to view and post comments. Contact Ellen Durney at ellen.durney@buzzfeed.com. Her suit is seeking punitive damages from county defendants who are accused of taking and sharing crash site photos. Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among nine people killed in January 2020 when the helicopter they were riding in flew through thick clouds and crashed into a hillside near Calabasas. In Vanessa's lawsuit, she claims Sheriff Alex Villanueva attempted to cover up the misconduct by going to the department substation that responded to the crash and told deputies they'd get off scot-free if they deleted the photos. Stay up to date with what you want to know. "Had we done the original, usual routine, which was relieve everybody of duty and everybody lawyers up and all that, that would increase the odds 10-fold that those photos would have somehow made their way into the public domain, Villanueva added. Surveillance video inside the bar showing Cruz and Gutierrez interacting and appearing to look at Cruzs cellphone together played throughout his testimony. The two firefighters -- one of whom was at the site solely to monitor safety procedures -- were sent "intention to discharge" letters last December. Los Angeles County lawyers have claimed Vanessas lawsuit has no merit, arguing in an April 30 filing that it should be dismissed because the photos were never disseminated to the public. P.S. I was disappointed, disgusted and angry.. The couple climbed to the top of an extra-wide slide, where two witnesses signed their marriage license using the newlyweds backs as hard surfaces. Kobe and Gigi were on their way to the Mamba Academy for basketball practice when the private helicopter went down in the Calabasas mountains northwest of Los Angeles. WebA coroner testified in Vanessa Bryant's suit against LA County over helicopter-crash photos of Kobe. The Los Angeles County Fire Department planned to terminate the employment of two firefighters and suspend a third for allegedly taking graphic photos of the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash scene and sharing them with their wives and girlfriends, according to court documents filed this week. Villanueva allegedly didn't tell the victims' families about the images - their loved ones only learned of the scandal in the media after the story broke, according to the lawsuit. Bryant's attorneys then filed an amended lawsuit that listed the names of the deputies Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell and Raul Versales and detailed allegations against each. Villanueva and Bryant are among those scheduled to testify. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Gutierrez told the court. The two firefighters were sent "intention to discharge" letters in December after a fire department internal investigation concluded they had taken photos of the dead bodies in the helicopter wreckage that "served no business necessity" and "only served to appeal to baser instincts and desires for what amounted to visual gossip," Bryant's attorneys said in a declaration in support of delaying the lawsuit trial to allow time for additional investigation. Attorneys representing L.A. County have asked the judge to dismiss Bryant's case, arguing that because the photos never made it into the public domain, Bryant hasn't suffered any actual harm and that no invasion of privacy took place. The County brings this motion to compel IMEs of the Plaintiffs, which are necessary to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of Plaintiffs alleged emotional injuries.
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