LA deputies’ phones with graphic Kobe Bryant crash photos were all wiped, court hears

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies “violated fundamental forensic policies” when they deleted graphic photos from the site of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash, a court heard.

The basketball legend’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, has sued Los Angeles County after police and fire officials took pictures of the 2020 accident and shared them with others.

Forensic expert David Freskos told a jury in Los Angeles that data had been wiped from 28 devices belonging to staff at LA County Fire Department and LASD.

Forensic analysis conducted by tech firm Kroll Inc. in September 20201 showed that nine out of 11 LASD staff phones were new since the accident.

And he testified that the phone belonging to Deputy Joey Cruz, who has admitted showing off pictures to a bartender, had been reset to factory settings.

“Upon Kroll’s powering on the device to extract the data, the ‘Hello’ screen appeared,” investigators wrote, and added that the phone’s data was ”forensically unrecoverable.”

Mr Freskos told the court that the only way to have tracked the spread of the photos would have been through the preservation of the metadata from the phones.

“They did the opposite,” Mr Freskos testified.

He added that “Information was destroyed” that would have allowed a greater understanding of how widely the photos had been shared.

All of the deputies to give evidence have told the court that they deleted the photos from their phones by the end of January 2020 after an order from Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

The Los Angeles Lakers legend, Gianna Bryant and the other seven victims died in the crash on 26 January 2020 when the helicopter came down as they flew from Orange County to a basketball tournament.

Ms Bryant’s lawyers have told the jury in the case that in the days after the accident, police and fire officials employed by the county showed off photos of the crash site that included the bodies of the victims.

Ms Bryant and fellow plaintiff Christopher Chester have not seen the photos but are suing the county for emotional distress and the threat that they will one day become public.

Mr Chester, an Orange county financial adviser, lost his wife Sarah, and their 13-year-old daughter Payton, in the crash.

Also killed in the crash were John Altobelli; his wife, Keri Altobelli; their 14-year-old daughter Alyssa Altobelli; coach Christina Mauser; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.

The families of Mauser and the Altobellis sued over the photos and settled with Los Angeles County last November for $1.25m each.