A court case brought by Kobe Bryant’s widow over graphic photographs taken by first responders at the scene of a helicopter crash continued in the United States on Wednesday. The basketball superstar and his teenage daughter were among nine people who died when their helicopter crashed into a mountain near Los Angeles in January 2020. Vanessa Bryant alleged that she suffered emotional distress as Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department personnel and firefighters filmed the scene and later reacted with friends.
“At least 11 (sheriff’s) personnel and a dozen firefighters shared the images within 24 hours of the crash,” Bryant’s attorney wrote in court papers.
“In the weeks that followed, a (sheriff’s) deputy showed photos of the remains at a bar, another texted photos to a group of video game friends and (county fire) personnel displayed the photos at an awards ceremony.”
Los Angeles County attorneys do not dispute that the photos were taken, but insist they were never made public and have now been deleted.
Meera Hashmal, who represents the county in the civil suit, said the case is tied to the issue of public publicity.
“From the time of the crash until now, the county has worked tirelessly to prevent photos of its crash site from entering the public domain,” he said.
“More than two and a half years later, no county photos have appeared in the media, none are available online, and the plaintiffs admit they have never seen them.”
Vanessa Bryant’s case joins a similar case brought by Chris Chester, whose wife and 13-year-old daughter also died in the crash.
A jury of six women and four men was selected Wednesday, CNN reported.
Relatives of several other victims were awarded $2.5 million in compensation last year for taking photos.
The crash investigation found that the pilot likely became disoriented after flying the Sikorsky S-76 in fog.
Bryant is widely recognized as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, a man who became the face of his game during an illustrious two decades with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was a five-time NBA champion in a career that began straight out of high school in 1996 and lasted until his retirement in 2016, after which he began building a lucrative business portfolio.
He was also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, helping the U.S. squad of NBA stars to titles in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
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