Vanessa Bryant lives “in fear” that photos of the 2020 California helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gianna and seven others will “go viral,” according to a Monday court filing.
The 39-year-old filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County after first responders admittedly snapped and shared pictures from the grisly Calabasas scene. One of them even showed it off at a bar to try and impress a woman.
“These deputies and firefighters took the worst thing that has ever happened to me — the worst thing that could happen to any mother or spouse — and made it worse,” Bryant reportedly stated in the filing, according to The Washington Post.
The court filings also allege that close-up pictures of Kobe and Gianna’s remains were shared to “at least 28 LASD devices and by at least a dozen firefighters,” some of whom flaunted “the photos in a bar while pantomiming dismemberment and showing off the photos over cocktails at an awards gala.”
She wrote that she had already seen one picture that supposedly depicted her late husband’s remains, according to the report.
“I will never be able to shake the anguish from knowing that the officials who are supposed to keep us safe treated Kobe and Gianna with such callous disrespect,” the grieving widow reportedly wrote in Monday’s filing. “For the rest of my life, one of two things will happen: either close-up photos of my husband’s and daughter’s bodies will go viral online, or I will continue to live in fear of that happening.”
Back on January 26, 2020, Kobe, Gianna, and seven others — Christina Mauser; Payton and Sarah Chester; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; and pilot Ara Zobayan — died when their chopper smashed into a hillside in dense fog on the way to a youth basketball tournament.
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Family members of the victims reached a confidential settlement agreement with the helicopter company involved in the crash earlier this year.
