The Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy at the center of a lawsuit filed by Kobe Bryant’s Widow, Vanessa Bryant, accusing first responders of improperly snapping photos at the site of helicopter crash that killed him, is again under fire — this time, over video that shows him kneeling on the head of a jail inmate for three minutes in March 2021.
Vanessa Bryant sued the county in September 2020, months after a helicopter carrying the Los Angeles Lakers legend and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna careened into a hillside in Calabasas, California. All nine people on board, at the time traveling to a youth basketball game in foggy weather, were killed in the tragedy.
In its defense, Los Angeles County filed documents on Friday, seeking to block the clip of Deputy Douglas Johnson and his confrontation with an inmate inside a San Fernando courthouse, according to USA Today. It starts when Johnson and another deputy demand that two inmates in the holding area stop talking. Still, the pair continue to laugh and joke, prompting Johnson to approach one of the men, Enzo Escalante, and order him to face the wall.
