Dylan Bettencourt
Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa suffered massive panic attacks after finding out images of her husband’s and daughter’s fatal helicopter crash were shared online.
The basketball star’s wife is suing Los Angeles County after first responders to the scene of the crash were said to have circulated the images.
“I expected them to have more compassion,” she told jurors at her invasion of privacy trial, as per the BBC.
The 40-year-old is seeking millions of dollars in damages for causing emotional distress.
Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna alongside six family friends passed away when a private helicopter crashed in January 2020.
Last November the county agreed to pay R42 million to the Bryant family for the emotional distress caused but Vanessa refused the amount.
Speaking on the stand, Vanessa recalled being at home when the story broke about her husband’s death in the Los Angeles Times.
“I bolted out of the house so the girls couldn’t see me. I wanted to run down the block and just scream,” she said.
The widow added that she felt “blindsided, devastated, hurt and betrayed” by the leaks and now lives in fear everyday of having these images pop up.
“I don’t ever want to see these photographs. I want to remember my husband and my daughter the way they were.”
The court heard that sheriff deputies and firefighters are responsible for taking the images of the accident site before showing them to people at bars and events.
Vanessa’s lawyer Luis Li said the community workers poured salt in open wounds and rubbed it in with their actions.
County lawyer J Mira Hashmall argued that site photography was essential and that the images were never shared online.
“They’re not online, they’re not in the media, they’ve never even been seen by the plaintiffs themselves,” Hashmall said. Image source: @People
