A trial in Los Angeles heard how some of these first responders showed the photographs to members of the public — including a bartender — while one deputy texted them to a friend as the pair played video games. Los Angeles County must pay $31 million in damages to Kobe Bryant’s widow and a co-plaintiff over graphic photos taken at the site of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star and eight others, a jury ordered Wednesday. Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters who rushed to the scene of the January 2020 crash snapped pictures of the carnage, including the mangled remains of the Los Angeles Lakers legend and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.
“There’s a simple truth that cannot be ignored — there’s been no public dissemination. Because the pictures had never been in the public domain, for the county, Mira Hashmall said that while employees had broken confidentiality policies, Bryant and Chester’s privacy had not been violated.
Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester, whose wife, Sarah, and daughter, Payton, also perished in the crash, sued for emotional damages over the pictures, which they said they feared would one day surface on the internet. “You can’t award too much money for what they went through,” said attorney Jerry Jackson. Bryant’s lawyer Craig Lavoie said he was asking for “justice and accountability” for the basketball great — a hero to the city of Los Angeles — and his widow. “The county violated Mrs Bryant and Mr Chester’s constitutional rights,” Lavoie said, asking the jury to hold the county liable for “the constitutional violations of its employees. “This is a photo case, but there are no photos,” she told jurors earlier. After the verdict, Hashmall said she and fellow lawyers would be consulting with the county about “next steps. “Meanwhile, we hope the Bryant and Chester families continue to heal from their tragic loss,” a statement said.
