Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s wife, has her day in court. She is suing the LA Sheriff’s Office for damages after “horrific” photos of the NBA star’s dead body and their daughter were made public.
- Vanessa Bryant, who is married to Kobe Bryant, will be in court on Wednesday to sue the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for several million dollars over photos taken at the scene of her husband’s crash.
- On the phones of dozens of firefighters and 28 sheriff’s officers, “close-up” photos of the NBA player and 13-year-old Gianna Bryant were found.
- A lawsuit says that a former spokesman for the LA County Fire Department showed the photos at the 2020 Golden Mike awards, which was less than a month after the crash.
- The sheriff’s office tried to settle the case, but the widow insisted on going to court. They called the suit a “money-grab.”
Kobe Bryant’s wife is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for a lot of money because photos of the bodies of the NBA star and his daughter, who both died in a helicopter crash in 2020, were leaked. The case goes to court on Wednesday.
In her federal lawsuit for invasion of privacy, Vanessa Bryant says that the photos were not taken for an investigation and that the deputies gave them to the firefighters who came to the scene of the crash.
According to the lawsuit, close-up photos of Gianna and Kobe’s bodies were shared on at least 28 sheriff’s department devices and by at least a dozen firefighters. They were also shown off in bars and at an awards gala.
On January 26, 2020, a chartered helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and other parents and players crashed in the Calabasas hills, west of Los Angeles, because of fog.
According to the lawsuit, Mrs. Bryant feels sick when she thinks that sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, and people from the public have looked at pictures of her dead husband and child for no reason. “She lives in fear that one day she or her kids will find horrible pictures of their loved ones on the internet.”
Vanessa’s lawyer said that a person who went to the 2020 Golden Mike Awards, which were held less than a month after the crash, saw LA County Fire Department Public Information Officer Tony Imbrenda talking about the photos and showing them to other people.
A bartender in Norwalk, California, said the photos were shown to him by a police officer in Los Angeles.
The widow is said to have told L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva on the day of the crash, January 26, 2020, that there were no survivors and that the crash site should be locked down and no photos should be taken there.
She said, “If you can’t bring my husband and baby back, please don’t let anyone take pictures of them.”
Federal safety officials said the crash was caused by a mistake by the pilot.
Vanessa Bryant has also sued the company that rented the helicopter and the estate of the pilot who died.
The county has said that Bryant is upset because of the deaths, not because of the photos, which the sheriff told Bryant to delete.
They said that the photos had never been shown in the media, on the internet, or anywhere else where the public could see them. They also said that the lawsuit was based on guesses about how she might be hurt.
Because of the crash, it is now against the law for first responders to take photos of dead people at the scene of an accident or crime without permission.
The county already settled a similar case for $2.5 million with two families whose loved ones died in the crash on January 26, 2020.
Vanessa Bryant didn’t settle her case, which shows that she wants more.
At times, the lawsuits have been very bad.
When the county asked Bryant to see a therapist to find out if the photos made her feel bad, her lawyers criticized the “scorched-earth discovery tactics” that were used to get Bryant and other family members of victims to drop their lawsuits.
The county said that they were sorry for Bryant’s losses but that her case was just an attempt to get money.
