Kobe Bryant crash site leaked photos scandal was ‘almost covered up with cops told to delete pics to avoid punishment’
THE horrific leaked photo scandal from the Kobe Bryant crash site was reportedly almost covered up, with cops told to delete the pictures to avoid being punished.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies linked to crash-scene photos in a California bar were told they wouldn’t get in trouble if they deleted the pictures, according to a report.
Public safety sources told the Los Angeles Times the deputies were told they’d be let off the hook if they came clean at the station and deleted the disturbing pictures – which could amount to the destruction of evidence.
The Times’ damning report prompted an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department after the crash site photos were allegedly used by an LA cop to impress a girl at a bar – DAYS after tragic accident.
A number of LA County Sheriff’s deputies took photos at the crash scene that included remains, TMZ reported.
But one of them, “tried to impress a girl by showing her the photos,” one of the law enforcement sources told TMZ.
The outlet was informed that an online complaint was filed with the Sheriff’s Department after the bartender listened in on the conversation.
TMZ was also told the images circulated among members of the L.A. County Fire Department and the Lost Hills Sheriff’s substation, who were first on scene.
An investigation is now underway after alleged reports that cops leaked graphic photos from Kobe’s chopper crash.
Images of the 41-year-old NBA legend and the eight other victims’ remains were reportedly shared just two days after the tragedy on January 26, sources told The Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies announced Thursday that the “matter is being looked into.”
According to The Times, two public safety sources claimed Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shared graphic photos of the crash.
One of the unidentified sources allegedly said he saw one of the images on an official’s phone, at a time and place that was unrelated to the crash investigation.
It is unknown how far the photos have reached and who took them.
A teacher of police procedures at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, Joseph Giacalone, said sharing unauthorized photos “is a cardinal sin in law enforcement,” the newspaper reported.
The Times contacted Sheriff Alex Villanueva and interviewed him in person, but refused to discuss any allegations in the Kobe case.
He said he was “unaware of any complaint.”
A spokesman for the sheriff’s department, Capt. Jorge Valdez, said police had contacted the victims’ families after the newspaper’s inquiries.
Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter were buried two weeks after they tragically died in a helicopter crash alongside seven others as the group was headed to Kobe’s Mamba Sports Academy training facility.
The others killed were college baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, a coach at Mamba Sports Academy, passengers Sarah and Payton Chester and pilot Zobayan.
The Sikorsky-76 chopper came down in fog in the Calabasas mountains northwest of Los Angeles.
Kobe is survived by his wife Vanessa Bryant and their three daughters Natalia Diamante, 17, Bianka Bella, 3, and Capri Kobe, 7 months.
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A month after the deadly crash, Vanessa, 37, reportedly claimed the helicopter shouldn’t have been put in such dangerous conditions before the aircraft’s death plunge.
Vanessa hit the chopper company with a lawsuit for “reckless” flying.
In the weeks leading up to the lawsuit and memorial Vanessa had opened up about her family’s grief after losing Kobe and Gianna.
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