On January 26, 2020 around 10:00 am, the helicopter had just crashed. Smoke filled and first responders did not know if anyone had survived.
All but two turned around as the trek became steeper, the brush thicker, and the mud too deep for most deputies to navigate. One of those who forged was Deputy Doug Johnson.
After climbing six feet of shrub for nearly an hour, Johnson reached the wreckage. This was a heroic feat.
Instead, the ensuing events sparked a chain reaction that led to Johnson on the federal court witness stand Friday, claiming that Los Angeles County and some of its employees violated Vanessa Bryant’s privacy and caused her emotional distress. The widow of one of the region’s most beloved sports stars. Her husband, basketball star Kobe Bryant, and her daughter Gianna were among her nine who died in the crash.
In his court testimony, Johnson called the scene “the most horrifying” he had ever seen.
But even though all nine people on board died in the crash, Johnson still had work to do. A command post had now been set up by the authorities, and Johnson testified that the supervisor had given him orders there.
“Take pictures, document the scene, and send them to the command post.
At the center of the lawsuit are photographs of the crash taken by Johnson — 25 in his number, and plaintiffs’ attorneys claiming there are far more — one-third of them. The remains are human remains, Johnson said itself.
“When you took the picture, did you know it was Kobe Bryant in the helicopter?” Johnson was asked in cross-examination by Los Angeles County attorney Mira Hashmoll.
“No ma’am,” he said.
Co-plaintiff Christopher Chester’s attorney, Jerome Jackson, said his wife Sarah and 13-year-old daughter Peyton were also killed in the crash.
Photos aren’t the only reason the county is on the defensive. Rather, it is, in part, what happened next.
mysterious firefighter
Johnson said he was doing a similar job as the fire supervisor who arrived on the scene shortly after. He took pictures and sent them back to the command post so he could organize a tactical response.
Johnson said he told the man he already had the photos and agreed to airdrop them to the fire supervisor.
“Do you know who he is?” Jackson asked. “Do you know where he is?”
“No,” said Johnson.
“Is he a fire supervisor, or is he pretending to be a fire supervisor?” Jackson replied.
“I think he was a fire supervisor because of the helmet,” Johnson said.
Neither plaintiff nor defense have identified the man. This is a key point in the claim that Bryant and Chester live in fear of the photo coming to light.
Johnson later brought then-Los Angeles County Fire Chief Brian Jordan to the scene, had him photographed, and marked a third party to obtain photographs documenting the scene.
Johnson said he went home that night and deleted the harrowing photos from his phone because he didn’t want them anymore.
But that wasn’t the end. In a flowchart that graced the courtroom, Bryant’s attorney Lewis Lee explained what happened to the photos Johnson said he sent to the command post.
Lee said the two spread them further. One of those agents, he was a trainee and also a crash responder, two days later found another bartender he thought was his friend, his niece, and another while playing a video game. showed them to another agent who allegedly shared them with the agent of “Call of Duty,” Lee said.
Overall, Li’s flowchart suggests that the photos were shared or viewed by at least 13 people.
“Curiosity won out,” said one lawmaker in an internal affairs interview conducted in court.
After a small group of people at her table looked through the images on their cell phones, Weireter characterized it as a party trick, but testified to seeing a firefighter walk away from the group. , look at Kobe’s charred body and eat now. “
During cross-examination, county attorneys argued that Weireter did not actually see the photos herself, and that her training as an EMT also taught her to record scenes.
no regrets
The key argument in this case is whether or not the photo should have been taken. They are what the defense calls “accident scene photographs,” and several eyewitnesses have testified to their effectiveness as part of the initial response to a crash.
“It’s only natural that command posts want to know what they’re dealing with,” testified David Katz, reserve lieutenant for the county’s search and rescue team, who responded to the scene hours after the crash.
Deputy Secretary Johnson said on the stand that the scene is typically photographed “before the evidence is destroyed or the victim is moved.”
However, plaintiffs argued that gruesome photographs were not necessary to adequately respond to the crash. They also allege that the county failed to conduct a forensic search of the personal electronic devices of the person who received the photo, and thus could not contain the photo.
The county says its action is good enough, pointing to the fact that the photos have not yet been published online.
Deputy Johnson said he was simply doing his job.
“Is your testimony that a close-up of Kobe Bryant’s arms and hands helped the command post determine if additional resources were needed?” asked plaintiffs attorney Eric Tuttle. . “Yes,” Johnson replied.
“Have you ever regretted anything…?” Tuttle asked.
Johnson answered plainly.
“No.”
Source: www.cnn.com
