Vanessa Bryant’s attorney accused Los Angeles County officials of exploiting Kobe Bryant’s killing and posting photos from the scene of his helicopter crash “for laughs” in the opening arguments of a civil trial that began on Wednesday.
Bryant is suing the county for a breach of privacy, arguing that Los Angeles County deputies and firefighters took and shared horrific photos from the scene. The 2020 accident that killed her husband and Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe BryantTheir 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others.
for every Associated PressIn his opening statement, Bryant’s attorney, Lewis Lee, argued that the photos were taken on cell phones and shared in unprofessional personal settings he described as “visual gossip.” Bryant wiped his tears as he presented his case to me.
“January 26, 2020 was the worst day in Vanessa Bryant’s life,” she told me in a district court in Los Angeles, United States. “The boycott made it much worse. They poured salt into an open wound and rubbed it in…
“Shared by MPs playing video games. It was shared over and over with people who had absolutely no reason to receive them.”
Myra Hashmol, a district attorney, argued that the photos were a necessary tool for first responders at the scene.
“On-location photography is essential,” Hashmol said.
Each of them presented their case in front of A jury of 10 selected earlier on Wednesday It includes a nun, a television producer, and a college student. According to CNN, potential jurors who claimed strong feelings for Kobe, Vanessa Bryant or Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva have been removed from the pool.
Villanueva In 2020, he admitted that his department members took and shared photos them in the personal settings. He said in March of that year that he was satisfied that eight MPs who had taken the photos had been removed.
“That was my number one priority, it was making sure those photos weren’t there anymore,” Villanueva He told NBC4 In 2020. “We identified the deputies involved, they came to the station on their own and admitted that they took them and deleted them. We are satisfied that those involved did so.”
According to the Associated Press, Lee showed juror security footage from a bar of an off-duty deputy sharing photos from the scene with a bartender who shook his head in response. He then told jurors the firefighters shared the photos at a banquet two weeks later and showed them documents that these photos were eventually shared with 30 people.
Bryant described the shock the presence of the photos caused to her On file before trial in December.
“These MPs and firefighters took the worst thing that ever happened to me – the worst thing that could happen to any mother or husband – and made it worse,” Bryant said in the suit. “I will never be able to take the pain out of knowing that the officials who are supposed to keep us safe treat Kobe and Gianna with such ruthless disrespect.
“For the rest of my life, one of two things will happen: Either close-ups of my husband and daughter’s corpses will circulate on the Internet, or I will continue to live in fear of that happening.”
Hashmol on Wednesday argued that the photos did not appear online, which is evidence of first responders’ discipline in ensuring their security.
“They’re not online,” Hashmol said. “They are not in the media. The plaintiffs themselves have never seen them before. This is no accident. This is a function of how diligent they are.”
She also addressed the MP who shared the photo with the waiter, whom she described as an old friend of the MP.
“He took out his phone, and that should have happened,” she said. “In an instant, in a moment of weakness, he showed those pictures, and he would regret them every day of his life.”
Chris Chester, his wife Sarah and her 13-year-old daughter Payton Died in the accident, is also the plaintiff. On USA Today, his attorney Jerome Jackson described a graphic image of Sarah’s body having been cut in half at the waist as a shared photo.
“That’s what they filmed,” Jackson said, on USA Today. “That’s what they shared. That’s what they laughed at.”
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was Kobe’s agent, close friend, and Gianna’s godfather. He took the stage on Wednesday and testified that sharing the photos “added a lot of sadness,” according to USA Today.
Hasmhall argued that the grief the victim’s survivors experienced was due to their deaths – not the photographs.
“There is no doubt that these families have suffered,” she told the Associated Press. “It’s indescribable. But this issue is not about the loss from the accident. It’s about the photos.”
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