Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Monday admitted he ordered deputies to delete graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others.
Villanueva told NBC News he learned the week of the Jan. 26 crash, that as many as eight deputies had snapped, seen or shared the images.
“We identified the deputies involved, they came to the station on their own and had admitted they had taken them and they had deleted them. And, we’re content that those involved did that,” he told the TV-station.
“That was my No. 1 priority, was to make sure those photos no longer exist.”
The interview came after the Los Angeles Times reported last week that deputies had shared images of victims’ remains and the crash site. A citizen complained that a deputy was showing the shocking photos at a bar in Norwalk, according to the newspaper.
In an attempt to keep the scandal under wraps, the LAPD quietly ordered deputies to trash the images — and said if they came clean and complied they wouldn’t be disciplined, sources told the Times.
The report “absolutely devastated” Bryant’s widow Vanessa, who demanded in a statement through her attorney Gary Robb the “harshest possible discipline” for the “unspeakable violation of human decency.”
Villanueva said that he was focused on stopping the distribution of the images at the time, and not punishing the deputies.
“Had we done the original, usual routine, which was relieve everybody of duty and everybody lawyers up and all that, that would increase the odds 10-fold that those photos would have some how made their way into the public domain. And that’s definitely what we do not want,” he said.
He said the department told the deputies “in no uncertain terms that the behavior is inexcusable.”
“I mean, people are grieving for the loss of their loved ones,” Villanueva said. “To have that on top of what they’ve already gone through is unconscionable. And to think any member of our department would be involved in that.”
The department only launched an investigation following the Times’ initial report on Thursday.
The decision to have the deputies delete the images sparked outrage from some in the department who argued the directive could amount to destruction of evidence, the Times reported.
The NBA legend, 41, Gianna and seven others — Christina Mauser; Payton and Sarah Chester; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; and pilot Ara Zobayan — died when Bryant’s helicopter collided with a Calabasas hillside amid dense fog.
The group had been on their way to a youth basketball game in Thousand Oaks.
Vanessa Bryant has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the chopper.