Who is Doug Johnson? Vanessa Bryant wants jury to know sheriff's deputy's controversial past
It’s been almost two years since the news of NBA legend Kobe Bryant's death broke out. On January 26, 2020, he along with his daughter, Gianna Bryant, died in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California. Doug Johnson, the deputy working on this case took pictures and made it public without any authorization. Since then, Vanessa Bryant, wife of the legend, has taken this matter and has sued the Los Angeles sheriff’s department for negligence and invasion of privacy over photo sharing. Now, she also wants the jury to know that the sheriff's deputy, Doug Johnson, is involved in another incident where he is seen being allegedly kneeling on a handcuffed inmate's head.
Vanessa sued the deputy in September 2020, with accusations against the county sheriff and the fire department workers for inappropriately taking and sharing pictures from the crash that killed the basketball player and their daughter, along with seven others on board. As per USA Today, in its defense, the county filed documents in court on June 17 that pursue to prevent the jail incident involving Johnson from coming up in Bryant’s trial against the county scheduled for late July.
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Two biggest scandals in the department
Becoming the department’s most publicized scandals during Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s term, the county attorneys are arguing that the force incident and cover-up have “nothing to do with” Bryant’s claims as per LA Times. But they said Bryant’s attorneys would not agree to exclude questions about it during the trial. So they want a judge to decide.
“The incident at the jail and LASD’s response are entirely unrelated to the crash scene photos at issue in this matter,” county attorneys wrote in a filing. It further read, "The incident is not only irrelevant, but also highly inflammatory — touching on one of the most contentious issues in our society, accusations of excessive force by police officers.”
The footage of March 2021 incident
As per a report this year from the LA Times, the 24-year-old inmate, named Enzo Escalante, allegedly punched sheriff’s deputy Doug Johnson in the face. Johnson and other deputies wrestled Escalante to the ground, with Johnson putting his knee on the inmate’s head. Security video of the altercation shows Johnson keeping his knee on Escalante’s head for three minutes after he was handcuffed and did not appear to be resisting.
The incident happened on the morning of March 10, 2021, two days after jury selection had begun in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who would be convicted of murdering Floyd by kneeling on his neck.