Kobe Bryant Horrifying Crash Photos Tagged as 'Plutonium'; Official Urges Immediate Deletion
An official from the Los Angeles County Fire Department recently testified during Kobe Bryant's crash photo trial, asking everyone to delete copies of the pictures if they still have them.
Bryant's widow, Vanessa, launched the privacy trial against the Los Angeles County sheriff's and fire departments after some officials reportedly took photos of the late NBA star's body and leaked them to the public.
Over a week after it started, LACFD official Sky Cornell appeared before the court on Thursday and disclosed that one of his bosses called the photos "plutonium."
As reported by a news outlet, it was revealed that Cornell - who was working for public information officer Anthony Joseph "Tony" Imbrenda at the time of the crash in January 2020 - said that Imbrenda indeed received photos soon after the accident.
Cornell reportedly saw the graphic photos on the supervisor's phone while attending an awards ceremony weeks after Bryant's death.
Still, he noted that his superiors told him and others to delete the photos after it was disclosed to the public that the officials had them.
"Just a reminder folks, there are no secrets! One way or another people get exposed," an e-mail, he reportedly received, read.
When asked whether Imbrenda indeed showed pictures to others during the awards ceremony, Cornell said that the setting was inappropriate.
Aside from the first official, another testified during the Thursday trial. Arlin Kahan told the court that he was the one who took photos at the crash scene and sent them to Imbrenda.
He defended himself and said he took pictures to document the scene and not to take photos of the remains alone. He added that he did the "useful" practice as well in wildfire cases and assured the court he always deletes them afterward.
What Is Kobe Bryant's Privacy Trial All About?
The new revelations came a week after Vanessa launched the privacy trial as a sheriff's deputy showed people pictures of Bryant's decapitated body.
Her representative, Luis Li, told the court that a whistleblower who was at the Baja California Bar & Grill in Norwalk was left disturbed after Deputy Joey Cruz showed people pictures of the basketball superstar's dead body.
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A video of Deputy Cruz sitting at the bar while holding up his phone to a bartender who eventually walked away from him was shown to the court.
"January 26, 2020, was and always will be the worst day of Vanessa Bryant's life. County employees exploited the accident. They took and shared pictures of Kobe and Gianna as souvenirs. ...They poured salt in an unhealable wound," he said.