Vanessa Bryant has revealed the names of the police officers who were accused of sharing unauthorized photos of the crash site where Kobe Bryant died.
Vanessa Bryant revealed the names via Instagram on Wednesday night, when she posted pages of her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the LA County Fire Department, LA County, and four deputies whose names were previously concealed.
The police officers include: Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales.
The posts came less than two weeks after a judge granted Vanessa Bryant’s request to unseal the names of the aforementioned deputies.
The officers are accused of taking photos of the crash that killed Kobe Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant, and seven others in early 2020. According to the legal documents, officer Russell, who was not directly involved with investigation, had obtained the photos and shared them “with a personal friend with whom he played video games with every night.”
Russell allegedly received the photos via text from Cruz, a deputy trainee who responded to the deadly accident.
“At some point during his shift, Cruz obtained multiple photographs of the Bryants’ remains on his personal cell phone,” the lawsuit states. “After obtained photos … Cruz shared them with multiple individuals without any legitimate governmental purpose, including several members of the public.”
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