Vanessa Bryant heads to court over the civil trial against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies who leaked the photos of the helicopter crash site that killed Kobe Bryant and 8 other passengers, including their daughter Gianna.
Bryant, Kobe’s widow, along with the family members of the crash victims attended the trial and listened as the prosecution when over in detail how the deputies shared the photos amongst each other in a group chat.
Luis Li, the lawyer for Vanessa Bryant expressed to the jury that the photos were also shared while the deputies played video games as well as shared with “people who had absolutely no reason to receive them.”
“January 26th, 2020, was the worst day of Vanessa Bryant’s life. The county made it much worse,” Li said. “They poured salt in an open wound and rubbed it in.”
He went on to play the footage of the off-duty deputy at the bar showing the gruesome images to the bartender as well as showing the men laughing together. It was mentioned that two weeks later that the firefighters took the photos to an awards banquet and showed close to 30 people.
Chirs Chester, who lost his wife, Sarah, and 13-year-old daughter, Payton in the crash, also has his lawsuit being tried in the trial as well. Some of the other families sued and were paid a $2.5 million settlement with the county.
Kobe and Gianna Bryant, and seven others died in a fatal plane crash in January 2020.