Kobe Bryant crash

A jury awarded the widow of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant $16 million in damages over leaked photographs of the January 2020 helicopter crash site.

Evidence also showed that firefighters passed around photos with each other at an awards banquet, and others shared them with their spouses. He said there was "no playbook" for first responders using their personal devices to snap crash site photos. She was also joined by Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka and his wife.

A jury found that Los Angeles County must pay Vanessa Bryant for emotional distress caused by deputies and firefighters sharing photos of the bodies of the ...

You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. If you click “Agree and Continue” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers.

A jury ruled that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant's widow $16 million after deputies and firefighters allegedly took and shared photos of the crash ...

But she emphasized that the photos had never appeared publicly, and had never even been seen by the plaintiffs. "I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up," she testified. She acknowledged that they should not have been shared with everyone who saw them. Vanessa Bryant and her attorney declined comment outside court Wednesday. The pictures were shared mostly between employees of the LA County sheriff's and fire departments including by some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter, and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that they might still be out there.

A jury has found Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant, $16 million over photos of his body at helicopter crash site.

Meanwhile, we hope the Bryant and Chester families continue to heal from their tragic loss." The jury returned its verdict on Kobe Bryant Day, which is celebrated on Aug. "We are grateful for the jury's hard work in this case. "This is a photo case, but there are no photos," the attorney told jurors in Los Angeles federal court. Two other families separately settled with the county over the photos for $1.25 million each. But she emphasized that the photos had never appeared publicly, and had never even been seen by the plaintiffs.

Ms. Bryant had sued Los Angeles County over the sharing of photos of human remains from the helicopter crash that killed her husband, her daughter and seven ...

The jury disagreed, finding that the failure of both agencies to train employees about the right to privacy amounted to a constitutional violation. Chester’s lawyer, asked the jury to consider awarding a total of as much as $75 million to the plaintiffs — $2.5 million each for past suffering, plus about $1 million for each year of their remaining life expectancy — a formula that would add up to $30 million for Mr. Bryant, showed the jury a flow chart of how the photos had spread. Bryant, testified that he had offered “amnesty” to deputies for coming forward with the images and then deleting them. The suit was an effort hold officials to account for behavior that lawyers for Ms. Villanueva, who took the witness stand just after Ms. Bryant’s friends, including the professional soccer player Sydney Leroux and the singer Ciara, appeared in the gallery to support her. And they said that police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders need the flexibility to document accident scenes before federal investigators or coroner’s officials arrive, so the taking of the photographs was justified. Her lawyers argued that orders from Fire Department and Sheriff’s Department officials to delete the images after inquiries were begun amounted to the destruction of evidence and an attempted cover-up. The photos were not introduced as evidence in the trial. “I felt like I wanted to run down the block and just scream,” Ms. Bryant, a star for the Los Angeles Lakers, achieved a stature in Southern California that far transcended basketball.