Yahoo Autos Vanessa Bryant wants to publicly release names of deputies accused of sharing Kobe crash photos
Vanessa Bryant and her lawyers are seeking to publicly release the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who allegedly shared unauthorized photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, her daughter Gianna, and seven others.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the names of the deputies, along with the LA County Fire Department, were added to Bryant's civil rights lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the sheriff's department last week. However, the names of the deputies have been redacted until a judge decides whether or not the names can be made public.
County lawyers are arguing that making the names public would make the deputies targets of "hackers" who want to make those crash scene photos public. Bryant's lawyers, led by former LA city prosecutor Luis Li, argue that there is absolutely no precedent for keeping the name of an accused officer private in a civil rights case.
The lawyers argued there is no compelling reason to hide the deputies’ identities, noting that the case cited as precedent by the county in its effort to hide the identities involves sexual harassment victims.
“Defendants try to equate the Deputy Defendants who shared photos of Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s remains with victims of sexual harassment and other abuse,” Li wrote in court papers.
