<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - Remembering Kobe: His final interview, his death and his legacy"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><em>Warning: This story contains descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.</em></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy <a target="_blank" href="/story/sports/2022/06/17/kobe-vanessa-bryant-photos-case-deputy-scandal/7666109001/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">who took close-up photos of dead bodies from the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant</a> testified in federal court here Friday that he “didn’t do anything wrong” and was simply obeying an order to take photographs of the scene of the accident that day.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">The deputy, Douglas Johnson, said another sheriff's deputy at his command post, Raul Versales, told him to do so. He said he took about 25 photos, including those of a contorted torso and a “close-up of a shin and a foot that had Black skin tone.”</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">But the truthfulness of both of those statements was cast into doubt in court Friday under questioning by attorneys for Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, and Chris Chester, a financial adviser who lost his wife and daughter in the same crash.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">“Are you aware that deputy Versales has denied asking you to take photos on January 26, 2020?” asked Eric Tuttle, an attorney for Bryant.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">“I am not,” Johnson said.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Tuttle then introduced “Exhibit 111-A,” an audio interview with Versales previously conducted by investigators for the sheriff’s internal affairs bureau.</p><figure class="gnt_em gnt_em_img"><img class="gnt_em_img_i" style="height:440px" data-g-r="lazy" src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/08/13/USAT/6157a423-9371-4b6a-9284-7bfcf9346468-Kobestatue.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" srcset="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/08/13/USAT/6157a423-9371-4b6a-9284-7bfcf9346468-Kobestatue.jpg?width=1320&height=880&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp 2x" decoding="async" alt="A bronze sculpture featuring Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant is displayed at the site of a 2020 helicopter crash in Calabasas, California."/></figure><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">“All of us at the command post, including myself, we did not request photographs,” Versales said on the recording played in court.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">This was Day 3 of Vanessa Bryant’s <a target="_blank" href="/story/sports/2022/08/10/kobe-bryants-widow-vanessa-trial-crash-death-photos/10271177002/" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":b|e|inline click|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a">civil trial against Los Angeles County</a> – and another difficult day for Bryant, who left the...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2022/08/13/kobe-bryant-photos-trial-deputy-testifies-crash-photos-vanessa/10315248002/">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
