The lawsuit brought by Vanessa Bryant, widow of the late Kobe Bryant, against the county of Los Angeles, opened this Wednesday, June 10. Los Angeles rescue workers and police reportedly took photos of the scene of the helicopter crash, which claimed the NBA star’s life, before sharing them with family and friends.
“January 26, 2020 was and always will be the worst day of Vanessa Bryant’s life”. As soon as the trial opened, the lawyer for the widow of Kobe Bryant, who also lost his daughter, Gianna, 13, in the crash, wanted to explain his client’s pain regarding the reporting of this incident.
On January 26, 2020, a helicopter crash claimed the lives of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter, and seven others, as they flew towards the Mamba Sports Academy. While“there was no interest for the investigation that these agents take photos at the crash site”, rescue workers, firefighters and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers, took pictures of the incidentonce they arrive there.
Photos of ‘limbs’ and ‘burnt flesh’
Vanessa Bryant said she suffered emotional distress when she learned that Los Angeles County police and firefighters photographed the crash site and the victims. “County employees exploited the accident. They took […] photos of Kobe and Gianna as keepsakes… They poured salt on an incurable wound,” said Luis Li, attorney for Kobe Bryant’s widow.
« At least 11 employees (of the sheriff) and a dozen firefighters shared the photos within 24 hours of the crash “, assure the lawyers of Ms. Bryant in court documents. “The first responders walked around the wreckage of the helicopter and took pictures of broken bodies. They took close-ups limbs, burnt flesh. It shocks the conscience”they denounce.
« Over the next few weeks, a (sheriff’s) officer showed photos of (human) remains in a bar, another sent photos to a group of video game friends and (firefighters) posted pictures at an awards gala. »
Luis Li, attorney for Vanessa Bryant
In addition, Vanessa Bryant denounces in her complaint the lack of consideration on the part of the sheriff of Los Angeles who would have refused to identify the agents who had in their possession these photos by having told them “that they would not face any disciplinary proceedings if they simply deleted the photos”. The widow of the NBA star also specifies in her complaint, that she had learned that photos had circulated on the web and that she feared that she or her daughters might discover them.
For their part, the Los Angeles County lawyers specify that “pmore than two and a half years later, none of the county photos have appeared in the media, none can be found online and the plaintiffs admit never having seen them ».
In a statement from December 2021, Vanessa Bryant explained that she felt “enormous pain and distress” because of these photos as well as“extreme sadness and anger knowing that photos of my husband and daughter’s bodies caused laughter when shown at a bar and awards banquet. »
$2.5 million in compensation
Vanessa Bryant’s complaint was linked to that of Chris Chester, whose wife and 13-year-old daughter also died in the accident of January 26, 2020. Other families of victims had been granted, last year, $2.5 million in compensation in the same case.
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