In response to gruesome images of the helicopter crash that claimed the life of basketball star Kobe Bryant, a jury on Wednesday ordered Los Angeles County to pay $31 million in damages to the widow and another co-plaintiff.
Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who arrived on the scene of the January 2020 collision took photos of the carnage, which included the icon of the Los Angeles Lakers and his 13-year-old daughter’s mutilated remains.
During the civil trial in Los Angeles, it was revealed that some of the first responders displayed the images to bystanders, including a bartender, while one of the deputies texted a friend while the two were playing video games.
Los Angeles County defended itself by claiming that the images were never made public and that meticulous steps had been made to remove them from devices.
But throughout the two-week trial, it was revealed that Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the collision, constantly worry about these pictures being up online.
In lawsuits that have been merged, the couple each claimed that the pictures had caused them emotional harm.
Bryant and Chester each received a $16 million and $15 million payment order from the county.
On Tuesday, Chester’s attorney demanded that damages be determined according to the remaining lives of the two claimants.
For Bryant, age 40, and Chester, age 48, he had requested for $40 million and $30 million, respectively.
A hero to the people of Los Angeles, Bryant and his wife are seeking “justice and accountability,” according to their attorney Craig Lavoie.
Bryant is regarded as one of the all-time greats in basketball, and his two sparkling decades with the Los Angeles Lakers helped him establish himself as the sport’s spokesman.
In his career, which he began in 1996 right out of high school and continued until his retirement in 2016, he won five NBA championships.
(with inputs from agencies)
