Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies allegedly shared graphic images of the scene of the helicopter crash in which Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others died.
The deputies shared graphic images of the remains of the victims, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
An official of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told the L.A. Times they were investigating the incident. But an official with the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said the department would not comment on it.
It was not known exactly who shared the photos. It was also not clear how many people saw photos without authorization and whether they were shared privately through personal contact or on an online forum.
However, a source with knowledge of the matter told the L.A. Times that they saw one of the images on the phone of an official in a setting not connected with the crash investigation.
The report did not say whether the phone belonged to an official who was at the scene of the incident and took the photo himself, or whether they received it from someone else.
L.A. law enforcement has struggled to prevent the leak of sensitive material in high profile cases
An expert in police procedures told the Los Angeles Times that unauthorized sharing of images and other sensitive material related to an investigation “is a cardinal sin in law enforcement.”
This is not the first time that law enforcement authorities in the Los Angeles area have faced challenges preventing sensitive information and material related to high profile cases being shared without authorization.
An L.A. police officer was fired over a case involving a leaked photo of Rihanna after the Chris Brown assault.
Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crashed in Calabasas
NBA star Kobe Bryant, 41, and his daughter, Gianna, 13, died tragically in a helicopter crash in Calabasas on Sunday, January 26.
Bryant and Gianna died with seven other people, including baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa. Altobelli was the head coach of the Orange Coast College Pirate Athletics.
The other victims were Christina Mauser, Payton and Sarah Chester, and the pilot Ara Zobayan.
They were traveling to attend a basketball event at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks when their helicopter crashed into a hillside in dense fog, leaving no survivors.
Monsters & Critics reported that Vanessa Bryant, the NBA star’s widow, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Island Express, the company that owned the helicopter in which her husband and 13-year-old daughter were traveling.