On Monday, Vanessa Bryant scored a huge win with the unauthorized sharing of the photos of the helicopter crash that killed her former husband, late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
“Vanessa Bryant can obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who her lawyers allege in a lawsuit shared ‘unauthorized’ photos of the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe Bryant, their daughter and seven others, a federal judge ruled Monday,” wrote Richard Winton of the Los Angeles Times.
“U.S. District Judge John F. Walter rejected an effort by Los Angeles County lawyers to keep the deputies’ names under seal in the lawsuit. They argued that releasing the names would make the deputies’ addresses and other personal information only a click away on the internet and that hackers could target them. The ruling means Vanessa Bryant’s lawyers can add the deputies’ names and details from the internal affairs investigation about their conduct to an amended complaint in her civil rights lawsuit against the county and the Sheriff’s Department led by Alex Villanueva.”
Kobe Bryant and eight others were killed in that tragic helicopter crash that occurred in late January of last year in Calabasas, Calif.
The complaint about those unauthorized photos started last September when Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles County sheriff and his department for taking and sharing said photos.
Needless to say, the passing of Kobe Bryant has taken its toll on Vanessa Bryant. But it hasn’t prevented her from providing comfort to others who were close to the basketball great.
Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ general manager who was Kobe Bryant’s agent for much of his career, recently said that Vanessa Bryant would call him and share photos of the former Laker when Pelinka was feeling down during the team’s championship run in the NBA bubble last year.
The entire team seemed to summon Kobe Bryant’s memory and spirit as it blitzed its way to its 17th NBA title last season.
