The widow of former US basketball star Kobe Bryant is demanding compensation from Los Angeles: police officers and firefighters are said to have distributed photos of her husband's crash site. Now the 40-year-old is expressing her fears about the recordings in court.
In the trial for photos of the crash site after the death of US basketball star Kobe Bryant in a helicopter accident, his widow testified in court. Vanessa Bryant said in Los Angeles that she lived in fear that the footage taken by rescue workers could get on the internet and then spread further and further. "It's like Covid. Once it has spread, it cannot be reversed," said the 40-year-old.
Vanessa Bryant alleges in her civil lawsuit that she experienced emotional distress because police officers and firefighters took photos of the crash site and later shared them with friends and other rescue workers. According to Bryant's lawyers, at least 11 police officers and a dozen firefighters shared the photos in the 24 hours after the Jan. 26, 2020 accident. Vanessa Bryant is asking for unspecified damages.
Los Angeles County is not denying that the photos were taken. However, his lawyers argue that the pictures were never made public and have since been deleted. According to the US media, Vanessa Bryant recently left the courtroom after a bartender told him about photos that he said had been shown to him by an employee of a sheriff's office in the bar. "I don't know if they were men or women," said the bartender. Only body parts could be seen.
Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit has been consolidated with that of another victim's relative, Chris Chester. Chester, who lost his wife and 13-year-old daughter in the accident, said in court that he was "afraid every day" that the photos - including images of the remains of the victims - could become public. "There were a lot of things that people thought didn't exist - and then they showed up on the internet."
In a separate process, other victims' relatives were awarded a total of $2.5 million ($2.45 million today) in compensation for the photos last year.
Basketball star Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers died on January 26, 2020 when their helicopter crashed near Los Angeles. According to the investigation, the pilot of the helicopter apparently lost his bearings after falling into thick clouds.
Bryant is one of the best players in the history of the North American professional league NBA. He won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in his 20-year career and won gold medals with the US team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. In 2016 he ended his career.
