Vanessa Bryant’s Attorneys Seek Sanctions Against L.A. County Over Destroyed Evidence

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Attorneys for Vanessa Bryant are asking a federal court to sanction Los Angeles County in connection to first responders destroying photos of the crash that killed Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant and seven others.

“By destroying evidence instead of preserving it to conduct a proper investigation, Defendants have prevented Plaintiffs from discovering how many other people saw graphic photos of their loved ones’ dead bodies,” said Jennifer Bryant on behalf of her client, per USA Today‘s Brent Schrotenboer.

Schrotenboer also shared what L.A. County wrote in its filing:

“Sheriff [Alex] Villanueva was keeping his promise to Bryant by making sure no photos got out. The deputies, on and before January 30, 2020, deleted the photos from their phones — months before this dispute. Within two days, LASD interviewed 28 deputies, reserve deputies, sergeants, and civilian volunteers. The department determined that all personnel who had taken, shared, or received crash site photos had, in fact, deleted them. No one had sent a photo to anyone outside LASD.”

Last September, Bryant filed a lawsuit alleging that L.A. County sheriff’s deputies took illicit photos of the crash site and shared them with people outside of the department. She named four deputies who allegedly engaged in the conduct, including a deputy trainee, Joey Cruz, who allegedly showed the crash photos to a bartender and bar patron.

According to Schrotenboer, the county has said Cruz was the only employee in the sheriff’s department who allowed non-department personnel to see the images.

Villanueva acknowledged in March ordering eight deputies to delete the offending pictures in order to avoid their further dissemination.

The county is taking the stance that it didn’t need to preserve the evidence in question until Bryant’s representatives made their initial claims in court. Her attorneys are claiming “nine sheriff’s deputies discarded or wiped devices after this litigation began,” per Schrotenboer.

As part of the continuing litigation, L.A. County attorneys requested that Bryant provide any therapy records she had dating back to 2010. They say this will help them better understand the extent of the emotional distress she experienced from the January 2020 crash and more specifically the controversy over the crash photos.