Vanessa Bryant just began to mourn the loss of her husband, basketball star Kobe Bryant, and 13-year-old daughter on Friday. Gianna faced new horrors when she learned that a sheriff's deputy and a firefighter had taken and shared photos of their bodies at the helicopter crash site.
"I felt like I wanted to run and run down the block and scream," she said, her tears turning to sobs and her voice quickening. "It was like I wanted to run down the pier and jump into the water. The problem is, I can't escape. I can't leave my body."
Commonwealth of Los Angeles During three hours in the courtroom witness stand where she is suing LA County for invasion of privacy over the photo, Bryant said she fought to win both. A public and private memorial for her loved ones and her seven others who were killed on January 26, 2020, she announced her grieving process after about a month. I thought I was ready to start. While holding her 7-month-old baby with her friends and her surviving daughters, she got a call about her Times article in Los Angeles about her photos of the crash site.
"I ran out of the house and stepped aside out of sight of her daughters," she said. "I was blind again, devastated and hurt. I trusted them. I believed they would not do these things." Evidence suggests that a sheriff's deputy showed a photo of Bryant's body while the bartender was drinking, sparking an official complaint from another man who was drinking nearby, and firefighters at the awards ceremony. It was shown that they shared them with each other at a dinner party. Others shared them with their spouses. A county attorney said the photos were taken only because they were essential to assessing the site shortly after the crash, and when LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva learned they were being shared, he said:
The photos have not been released, but Vanessa Bryant said she was always worried that some of them had not yet been released. .
"I use social media every day and am afraid these things will pop up," she testified. "I live in fear that my daughters are on social media. These pop up."
She lies next to her 3- and 5-year-olds. He said the thought kept him awake at night and sometimes led to panic attacks that made him unable to breathe.
At trial, under cross-examination by her J. Mira Hashmall, an attorney representing LA County, Bryant provided a medical diagnosis that she suffered from panic attacks and mental disorders. He testified that he had not received it. She took medicine for them.
She said she spoke to a therapist for about 18 months after the crash, but she has not spoken since.
"I think she can be helpful," Bryant said.
Hashmall spent most of the 90 minutes of cross-examination on Bryant's current business role. For example, serving as president of her husband's multimedia company, Granity Studios, or overseeing the publication of one of her books he wrote, completing and publishing another, and working for Kobe and Gianna. Headed the foundation that was started and founded several other companies.
Hashmall suggests that Bryant's ability to do all of this means she is functioning well and is not overwhelmed by fear and anxiety.
"It sounds like you're manipulating a business empire," Hashmall said at one point.
"For me, it's a job of love," Bryant said, and she remained calm and composed during her cross-examination.
She often cried and occasionally laughed while being interrogated by her attorney, Lewis Lee. He had her describe her life with her husband, "her proud daughter and her father," and his daughters.
"He was such a beautiful and devoted father," she said.
Bryant describes the day of the crash, her anguish, and her desire to find out if her husband and daughter were still alive after first hearing from her assistant that there were five survivors.
She said Sheriff Villanueva walked into a waiting room at the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and confirmed her husband and daughter had been killed. asked if there was anything he could do for her.
"I told him, if you can't bring my baby back, secure the place," Bryant said. "I'm worried about the paparazzi."
"Did the sheriff say one of his deputies had already gone to the hills to take close-up pictures of the crash victims? asked Lee.
"No," Bryant replied.
During cross-examination, Hashmoll hiked through rugged terrain in northern Los Angeles County to the crash site, where Deputy Doug Johnson, who took the photo later shared, said he was only trying to use Stated. Assess the situation.
"I can see why he would want the same information as you," said Hashmol.
"I don't think it's necessary to take close-up pictures of people to determine how many people are on the aircraft," Bryant replied. "I think he was just counting."
Bryant's side dropped the case after her testimony on her eighth day of trial.
