Pilot error led to crash that killed Kobe Bryant, eight others: NTSB
FOX News correspondent Jeff Paul joins 'Special Report' with the latest from Los Angeles.
Lawyers representing Los Angeles County in its ongoing legal battle with Vanessa Bryant say she has turned what would be a "straightforward" case over sheriff's deputies' dissemination of her late husband’s and daughter’s crash wreckage into an unnecessary "fishing expedition," court papers show.
County attorneys responded earlier this week to Bryant’s request to change the deadline for discovery in her team’s efforts to be given six months longer to execute depositions and compile evidence.
"This straightforward case, with undisputed facts, has turned into a fishing expedition that is taking first responders away from their job – and subject them to public harassment and threats," states the Monday court filing in the Central District of California. "Defendants are eager to have their day in Court and put an end to this."
As it stands, both parties have four months to complete discovery.
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Bryant, 39, sued the county and the Sheriff’s Department seeking damages for negligence and invasion of privacy, for allegedly sharing graphic photos from the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, their daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
Vanessa Bryant, left, widow of Kobe Bryant presents their daughter Natalia with Bryant's Hall of Fame jacket at the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame awards tip-off celebration and awards gala, Friday, May 14, 2021, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Attorneys for Bryant did not respond to Fox News’ Wednesday request seeking comment.
County attorneys are asking the court to deny Bryant’s motion, arguing that she is delaying developments in the case, while the defendants have been cooperative and timely in fulfilling her requests.
"Plaintiff has not been diligent," the filing states. "Instead, Plaintiff has stalled the forensic examination for seven months, sought irrelevant and unnecessary discovery, expanded the scope of discovery beyond what this case requires, engaged in nonsensical meet and confer efforts, and needlessly delated setting depositions, conducting discovery and even filing this Motion."
LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS TO BE FIRED OVER KOBE BRYANT HELICOPTER CRASH SITE PHOTOS
Kobe Bryant and the others were killed Jan. 26, 2020, when the helicopter they were aboard crashed west of Los Angeles in the hills of Calabasas.
In the lawsuit, Bryant alleges that according to a Sheriff’s Department investigatory report, one deputy took 25 to 100 photos on his personal cell phone that had no value to the investigation. The suit alleges that at least eight deputies snapped cellphone photos.
In March, Bryant posted the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on an Instagram post, identifying them as being Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell and Raul Versales.
None of the deputies were directly involved in the investigation of the crash or had any legitimate purpose in taking or passing around the grisly photos, the suit contends.
"It is undisputed that only government personnel and one friend saw the photographs in question," the court filing states. "There has been no public dissemination – nothing in the media, nothing on the Internet."
LA COUNTY SAYS VANESSA BRYANT HAS 'NO LEGAL BASIS' TO SUE OVER HELICOPTER CRASH SITE PHOTOS: REPORTS
The suit says that on the day of the crash Mejia, who was assigned to the crash site, obtained photos from fire department personnel, then walked over to chat with a female deputy — who wasn’t involved in the investigation — and "for no reason other than morbid gossip," sent them to her cellphone.
It contends that two days after the crash, Cruz "boasted" to a bartender at a Southern California bar and grill that he’d responded to the scene and showed photos the trainee deputy had been sent by Mejia. They included bodies of a girl and of Kobe Bryant, the suit alleges.
The bartender told a table of nearby customers "specific characteristics" of Kobe Bryant’s remains, and the patrons became disturbed enough that one filed an official complaint with the Sheriff’s Department, the suit says.
According to the suit, Cruz also showed the photos to his niece and another bar patron, and texted images to Russell, who allegedly shared them with a friend.
As of Monday, L.A. County had provided Bryant and her legal team with more than 20,000 pages of related documents, including the Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau Report and a draft forensic protocol.
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"Plaintiff does not need, nor is she entitled to, over 50 depositions," the filing states. "The parties know who took accident site photographs, who they were shared with, and when they were deleted. That is what this case is about. It is not about what Plaintiff perceives to be inadequacies in the County’s internal investigations and personnel decisions regarding the photographs."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
