INVASION OF PRIVACY

Vanessa Bryant Names Officers Who Allegedly Shared Photos of Kobe’s Body

Four sheriff’s deputies—Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales—are accused of invasion of privacy.

Vanessa Bryant named the four sheriff’s deputies who allegedly shared photos of her husband and daughter’s remains soon after their deaths, posting screenshots of an amended complaint filed March 17 to Instagram. The names of the officers had been redacted in previous versions of the suit, but earlier this month a judge ruled in Vanessa Bryant’s favor that they could be made public. She accuses Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales of distributing the photos of the helicopter crash site as well as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County Fire Department of violating her 14th Amendment rights, negligence, and invasion of privacy. Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died Jan. 26, 2020.