LOS ANGELES – Vanessa Bryant finally began grieving in February 2020 following an emotional memorial service for her late husband, basketball star Kobe Bryant.
Then, days later, Bryant learned that sheriff’s deputies had privately shared photos of the remains of victims at the site of the helicopter crash that left Bryant and his daughter Their 13-year-old Gianna, along with seven others, were killed.
Bryant has left her home, she testified in Los Angeles federal court on Friday.
“I felt like I wanted to run down the block and just scream,” she said. “But I cannot escape. I can’t get rid of my body.”
Bryant’s death at the age of 41 left sports fans around the world stunned. He’s an NBA icon who has set records, led his Los Angeles Lakers to five championships and spent his entire 20-year playing career with the same team.
To Ms. Bryant, he is a “father and daughter” with big dreams for their family, she said Friday as she answered questions for the first time in a court hearing stemming from her lawsuit. her against Los Angeles County.
Ms. Bryant describes feeling helpless, violated and betrayed at the thought that images of her loved ones are being circulated publicly. Wearing a black coat over a black dress, with long black hair covering her face, she often stopped crying.
She is seeking damages for the emotional distress she says was caused by officials from the Los Angeles County Fire and Fire Department carelessly sharing photos from the crash. problem.
In the lawsuit, Ms. Bryant accuses Los Angeles County, as well as the Police and Fire Department and individual employees, of negligence and invasion of privacy. She said in court filings that close-up photos of the remains “was passed around at least 28 Police Department equipment and at least a dozen firefighters,” including at a bar. , a gala where the Los Angeles County Fire Department communications officer received an award and on social media.
Bryant and Gianna were among nine people who died when their helicopter crashed into a hill near Calabasas, California, as they were traveling from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament in an upstate suburb northwest of Los Angeles. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the crash was most likely caused by the pilot’s “wrong decision” to fly at too high a speed in foggy weather conditions.
The trial centered on a public showdown of wits between two giants in the nation’s second largest city. On one side is Mrs. Bryant, a fierce keeper of her husband’s legacy and mother of 3 daughters who are still alive with Mr. Bryant. On the other side is Police Chief Alex Villanueva, whose governing body full Scandal that the county supervisory board is asking voters the possibility of removing him from the office.
Ms. Bryant attended every day of the trial, which began August 10 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles. She arrives and leaves each day in a black SUV outside the building, surrounded by photographers and television crews, who are not authorized to document the proceedings inside her seventh-floor courtroom. District Judge John F. Walter.
Joining the lawsuit against Ms. Bryant is Christopher Chester, whose wife, Sarah, 45, and daughter, 13-year-old Payton, died in the crash. Two other victim families settled for $1.25 million a year last year.
Ms. Bryant said she suffered from mental anguish at the thought that the pictures might appear online, and of her other daughters with Mr. Bryant – Capri, 3; Bianka, 5; and Natalia, 19 years old – can see them.
The county sought to counter those claims by showing pictures from her Instagram account, where she has 15.5 million followersin which she was on vacation and dressed up as Cruella de Vil in “101 Dalmatians”” Disney movies. She refers to “revenge” as a stage of grief. Judge Walter allowed the county on Friday to present the Instagram posts as evidence.
Los Angeles County and law enforcement officials acknowledged that the photos were shared but said they were soon deleted and never made into the public domain. County attorneys say that taking pictures of the crash scene is common practice and necessary for investigations.
Ms. Bryant said she first learned about the photos when a friend told her about a Story February 2020 in the Los Angeles Times.
Bryant’s attorneys argued that the Sheriff’s Department removed the images as part of a “cover-up” and that deputies were told they could avoid disciplinary action by doing so. One of Ms. Bryant’s attorneys questioned Division Chief Jorge Valdez this week about why deputies destroyed evidence that could be useful to the NTSB’s investigation. Mr. Valdez testified that it was okay for the delegates to delete the photos because the investigation was administrative, not criminal.
At the end of Tuesday’s testimony, Mr. Valdez surprised those in the courtroom when he directed Ms. Bryant and Mr. Chester. “I’m sorry,” Mr. Valdez said.
In an earlier report, Ms. Bryant described going to the sheriff’s station in Malibu, near the crash site, where “nobody answered” her questions. When the sheriff personally came to confirm the deaths, she said he brought a publicity journalist, whom Ms. Bryant asked to leave the room.
Ms. Bryant said she told Mr. Villanueva emphatically, “If you can’t bring my husband and children back, please make sure no one takes pictures of them. Please keep this area safe.”
Earlier in the trial, Raphael Mendez Jr., who was a patron at the Baja California Bar and Grill in Norwalk in January 2020, testified that a bartender there walked up to his table and said that a bar employee who is a deputy sheriff shared. Graphic image from the crash site. That prompted Mendez to file a complaint through the Sheriff’s Department website.
“I didn’t believe it,” Mendez testified last week. “I was frustrated, disgusted, and angry.”
Attorneys for Bryant and Chester questioned Los Angeles County Fire Department officials about the incident at the gala dinner.
Sky Cornell, an agency captain who was a public information officer at the time, testified that his boss, Tony Imbrenda, showed a small group pictures of the child’s remains. people during the cocktail hour of the event.
Mr. Cornell testified that he later told investigators he didn’t think viewing the images at a public event was a big deal.
Jonathan Abrams and Douglas Morino contribution report.
