Sheriff’s Dept. scandals collide in court

Lawyers aim to show deputy who took Bryant crash photos faces more scrutiny.

About a year after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Johnson took graphic photos of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash scene that were then passed around, he was caught up in another scandal.

Johnson knelt on the head of a handcuffed inmate for several minutes — another incident sheriff ’s officials tried to keep quiet because they feared it would cast a “negative light” on the Sheriff ’s Department.

They have become two of the department’s most highly publicized scandals during Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s term — and they’re now colliding in the courtroom.

L.A. County lawyers are trying to block Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s widow, who is suing the Sheriff ’s Department for negligence and invasion of privacy over the photo sharing, from introducing the cover-up of the violent detention by Johnson as evidence in her trial, which is set for next month.

The county attorneys are arguing that the force incident and cover-up have “nothing to do with” Bryant’s claims. But they said Bryant’s attorneys would not agree to exclude questions about it during the trial. So they want a judge to decide.

“The incident at the jail and LASD’s response are entirely unrelated to the crash scene photos at issue in this matter,” county attorneys wrote in a filing Friday.