Vanessa Bryant Scores Win In Leaked Kobe Bryant Crash Photos Case
Ever since Vanessa Bryant lost her basketball legend husband Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna Bryant in a January 2020 helicopter crash, she has been steeped in legal battles surrounding the tragedy. After at least eight sheriff's deputies allegedly snapped unauthorized photos of the crash scene, as per The Washington Post, Vanessa filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department claiming an "invasion of privacy." Vanessa is seeking damages for emotional trauma, alleging that the deputies not only took graphic photographs of the crash victims, but disseminated them among unauthorized personnel.
After the court attempted to dismiss Vanessa's suit, she responded on December 6, 2021 with an official six-page plea, per the Post. As she stated in her document, "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," adding that, "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." Vanessa also claimed that she has viewed at least one of the alleged leaked photos, which appeared to be of her deceased husband's remains, and has since "been tormented with thoughts of who took it and whether it depicts my husband."
As Los Angeles County continues attempts to shake off Vanessa Bryant's claims, the widow was granted a major legal victory in early January.
Vanessa Bryant is determined to see her legal battle to the end
Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was once again upheld in court. On January 5, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter denied the county's request to dismiss the suit over alleged photos taken at her late husband Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash site, per People. Given that these photos' existence presented "genuine issues of material facts for trial," Walter stated that his job was not "to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." After Walter's ruling, Skip Miller, an outside counsel for L.A. County, told People, "The county did not cause Ms. Bryant's loss and, as was promised on the day of the crash, none of the county's accident site photos were ever publicly disseminated."
In December 2021, Vanessa's attorney Luis Li filed a court document claiming that "close-up photos of Gianna and Kobe's remains were passed around [to] at least 28 LASD devices and by at least a dozen firefighters (per The Washington Post). Li also alleged that "one deputy guffawed while sharing the photos" and "another described the crash victims' remains as 'hamburger.'"
In her own December 6 legal filing, Vanessa stated that she was "sick at the thought that deputies and firefighters have gawked at photos of my husband's and child's bodies without any reason." What a horrible way to have this tragedy prolonged.