Image Source: NPR, Zota News, Variety
According to sources, photos of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and numerous other passengers in a helicopter crash in California on January 26, 2020, were shared online. The photos were captured by first responders and were making the rounds on the internet. The death of a basketball hero rocked the whole sporting world, and those who looked up to him are still coming to terms with his and his 13-year-old daughter's passing.
Families of the crash victims, including Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa Bryant, filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County in September 2020 after first responders shared gruesome images from the crash site with a bartender and then on the internet. Vanessa claims that photos of his late husband's body, children, parents, and coaches who died in the incident have caused significant hardship to the families and Vanessa herself.
NBA legend Kobe Bryant and Gianna passed away in a helicopter crash. Image Source: Lokmat News English
According to sources, Los Angeles County is attempting to require psychiatric evaluations for Kobe Bryant's widow and others to verify whether they suffered mental anguish as a result of the photos being released online. According to the court records, "Ms. Bryant feels uncomfortable at the prospect of people gawking at photographs of her deceased husband and kid, and she lives in terror that she or her children will one day encounter awful images of their loved ones online."
While the families "have clearly suffered great pain and trauma as a result of the incident and subsequent loss of their loved ones," the county claims that "their distress was not caused by (first responders) or any accident site images that were never publicly shared." The case will be heard next month, according to reports. This summer, the family of the victims negotiated a confidential payment arrangement with the helicopter firm that was involved in the tragedy.
The decision of Los Angeles County to compel psychiatric evaluations has been met with a response from Vanessa Bryant's attorneys, who claim that the county is using "scorched-earth discovery tactics" to intimidate the late NBA legend's widow and the family members of the other victims into giving up their fight for justice.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, attorneys for Los Angeles County said the county feels "deep sympathy" for Bryant's losses. In a statement, they stated, "It's awful, the worst imagined. However, she filed a lawsuit against the county for something that never happened. There has been no public release of images from the crash scene. As a result, we perceive this litigation as a money grab and are doing everything we can to protect our client."
The lawsuit has become exceedingly contentious since the details of the case were made public. Kobe's loved ones have been devastated by the latest turn of events.
While Vanessa Bryant and her young kids cope with the loss of their loved ones, Kobe's "Mamba attitude" aids them in overcoming their grief. She reminded Candace Parker, one of the WNBA's all-time greats, of the "Kobeism" that helped her win the WNBA Championship last night. "You asked me for another "Kobeism" this morning, and I asked you to play Gigi's way if she was given this chance," she explained. Gigi's Way was one of the games you played. #MAMBACITA #MAMBACITA #MAMBACITA #MAMBAC @candaceparker, congratulations!"
Vanessa Bryant wants his late husband's legacy to live on in the form of media, clothing, trading cards, and other forms of entertainment, thus she has filed to trademark "KB24" to build a sports and entertainment empire around his name.
TMZ Sports reported that Vanessa Bryant filed documents earlier this month to secure the trademark for digital collectibles, websites, training camps, broadcasting platforms, podcasts, TV series, movies, documentaries, and music, as well as sports cards, food and beverage containers, and t-shirts.
"KB24" joins the Hall of Famer's estate's growing collection of trademarks, which includes "Mamba Sports Academy," "Mambacita," "Lady Mambas," "Lil Mambas," and more.
