But another witness testified in court the day before, Thursday, to have heard a different story. That witness was Reserve Deputy David Katz, a search and rescue team leader. Katz had also been to the scene of the accident and was told by his supervisor not to take any photos.
Then, when Katz arrived on the scene, with debris and body parts everywhere, he saw a uniformed deputy doing just that – taking pictures.
The name on this deputy’s name tag was “Johnson”.
“I told him my supervisor told me not to take any pictures,” Katz said Thursday.
Johnson replied that he had already taken pictures.
“Didn’t he tell you he took over 100 pictures?” asked Jerome Jackson, Chester’s lawyer.
“I believe that’s what he said,” Katz replied.
On Friday, Johnson denied taking so many photos. After Bryant’s attorney confronted him in court about Versales’ contradictory statement, Johnson again addressed the issue under friendlier questioning by lead county attorney Mira Hashmall.
This time, he said, “I think it was the Versales deputy I spoke to on my cell phone.” He added that he also received a request from someone by handheld radio from the command post to document the scene with footage, but it may not have been Versales.
