JUSTICE FOR MY FAMILY

KOBE'S WIDOW HAS PREVENTED GRAPHIC PHOTOS FROM THE CRASH THAT KILLED HER HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER EVER BEING SHARED

- Penelope Clifton

The August 24 verdict was a bittersweet one for Vanessa Bryant, the widow of five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant. It marked a $23 million windfall for the mother of four, who lost Kobe and her 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a horrific chopper crash that also claimed the lives of seven others. Their aircraft went down shortly after take-off near Calabasas, en route to a basketball tournament. The crash was ruled a pilot error, but it’s what happened in the hours after that saw Vanessa take the Los Angeles County sheriff and fire officers to court. They were the first on the scene that day and allegedly took photographs of Kobe and Gianna’s dead bodies, and shared them among colleagues via text in nonwork-related environments.

The gruesome, close-up images were shared in social settings and in their homes with their spouses. The guilty individuals included a deputy who admitted to showing two people at a bar, another who said he shared the graphic photos while playing video games, and a fire official who shared the crash site photographs over cocktails during an awards ceremony.