Legal
LA Sheriff Had No Policy Against Sharing Graphic Kobe Bryant Photos
- Customer says he was disgusted on learning about crash photos
- Sheriff deputy says there were no protocols on picture sharing
Wreckage of the crashed helicopter that was carrying Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26, 2020.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images
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A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputy betrayed the public trust when he shared pictures of the remains of Kobe Bryant with a bartender, a witness told a jury at a trial over the leaking of photos.
Rafael Mendez Jr. was a customer in the Norwalk, California, bar two days after the helicopter crash that killed Bryant, his daughter and seven others. He told the jury he was disgusted when the bartender described the photos the deputy had shown him a few moments earlier and he filed a complaint with the sheriff’s department from the driveway of his home.