Kobe Bryant Crash Photo Case: Jury Awards $31 Million in Damages
Kobe Bryant Crash Photo Case: Jury Awards $31 Million in Damages
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A jury on Wednesday ordered Los Angeles County to pay Kobe Bryant’s widow and a co-plaintiff $31 million in damages for graphic photos of the basketball star’s helicopter crash.

Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters who responded to the January 2020 crash captured images of the carnage, which included the mangled remains of the Los Angeles Lakers legend and his 13-year-old daughter.

In the Los Angeles civil trial, it was shown that some of the first responders displayed the images to bystanders, including a bartender, while a deputy texted one of his coworkers as the two were playing video games.

In its defence, Los Angeles County claims that the images were never made public and that officials have worked hard to remove them from devices.

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However, during the two-week trial, Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter died in the crash, testified that they live in fear of these photographs surfacing on the internet one day.

In separate lawsuits, the couple claimed emotional distress as a result of the photos.

On Tuesday, Chester’s lawyer requested that compensation be calculated based on the two plaintiffs’ remaining life expectancies.

He requested $40 million for Bryant, 40, and $30 million for Chester, 48.

Bryant’s lawyer, Craig Lavoie, said he was seeking “justice and accountability” for the basketball legend and his widow, a hero in Los Angeles.

Lavoie argued that the county intentionally infringed on Mrs. Bryant and Mr. Chester’s constitutional rights and asked the jury to hold the government accountable for “the constitutional transgressions of its workers.”

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After about four and a half hours of deliberation, jurors in downtown Los Angeles reached a decision.

Other victims’ relatives were awarded $2.5 million in compensation last year for the photo-taking.

The pilot became disoriented after flying the Sikorsky S-76 into fog, according to an investigation into the crash.

Bryant is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, a figure who became the face of his sport during his two-decade career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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.

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