Kobe-pic cop’s ‘abuse’ shocker
Deputy ‘kneeled on inmate’s head’
The cop who allegedly took and shared photos of Kobe Bryant’s body after his fatal helicopter crash also stands accused of once kneeling on an inmate’s head for 3 minutes.
Video of the alleged abuse is now at the center of the legal battle involving Bryant’s widow’s lawsuit against Los Angeles County.
Vanessa Bryant claims that sheriff’s Deputy Douglas Johnson helped violate the privacy of her late husband and daughter, Gianna, when county workers shared pictures of their remains.
The NBA legend and Gianna, 13, died Jan. 26, 2020, in a helicopter crash along with six other passengers and the pilot.
Leaked video
Johnson is now facing more scrutiny over the release of video leaked to Knock LA, which shows him kneeling on the head of Enzo Escalate, who was handcuffed at the time.
Lawyers for the county are trying to prevent the video from being introduced as evidence when Vanessa’s suit heads to trial in late July, claiming it’s irrelevant, according to USA Today.
“The March 2021 County jail incident has nothing to do with this case,” the county said in court docs reviewed by the paper.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the sheriff’s office tried to cover up Johnson’s treatment of Escalante, “given its nature and its similarities to widely publicized George Floyd use of force.
“The only reason Plaintiff would seek to elicit testimony about Deputy Johnson’s altercation with the inmate and LASD’s response is to impugn Deputy Johnson’s and Sheriff [Alex] Villanueva’s character,” the county claims in court documents. “This is improper.”
Vanessa Bryant has said she lives “in fear” that pictures of her dead husband and daughter will “go viral,” according to a court papers.
“The gratuitous sharing continued in the following days and weeks and included such outrageous conduct as flaunting the photos in a bar while pantomiming dismemberment, showing off the photos over cocktails at an awards gala, and casually texting the photos to a group chat of video-game buddies while playing ‘Call of Duty,’ ” her lawyers have said in previous court papers.