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Vanessa Bryant went to court again, but she didn’t go alone this time. The businesswoman and philanthropist were accompanied by her best friends Ciara and Monica and her 19-year-old daughter Natalia Diamante.
Kobe Bryant’s widow is suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after the graphic images of the helicopter crash leaked.
Although Shaquille O’Neal never had a close relationship with Vanessa Bryant, he also showed support. He said he is proud of her for staying strong and trying to make people accountable. In an interview with ET, the retired basketball player spoke about how Kobe Bryant’s wife is doing the right thing.
“I feel for her,” Shaquille said. “We’ve never talked a lot [but] we’ve always had respect for each other. Every time I see her, it’s a hug, it’s a laugh. But I couldn’t imagine what she’s going through,” he added.
“We live in a world where, especially when it gets to the internet, people don’t care. But those are pictures that I would never, ever want to see, so she’s doing a great thing by holding people responsible,” he assures.
It has been over two years since the crash, and such photos have never been leaked; however, for Vanessa Bryant, there is a possibility that they may surface. “For the rest of my life, one of two things will happen either close-up photos of my husband’s and daughter’s bodies will go viral online, or I will continue to live in fear of that happening,” Vanessa Bryant said in 2021.
Vanessa’s lawyer Luis Li spoke about the emotional distress the images taken on January 26, 2020, have had on the philanthropist and businesswoman. According to Rolling Stone, the attorney showed the 10-member jury footage of Deputy Joey Cruz at the Baja California Bar & Grill in Norwalk, showing the images to a bartender who then walked away.
Sitting near the bar, Ralph Mendez noticed that Cruz had photos of the crash site on his phone. After pondering what he should do next, Mendez decided to inform Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva to avoid the images leaking online.
On August 15, 2022, retired Los Angeles County fire captain Brian Jordan had to take several breaks while sitting on the witness stand. Jordan walked off three times after being questioned about the photos of Kobe Bryant’s remains during the 2020 helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, 13-year-old Payton Chester, Sarah Chester, 46, 14-year-old Alyssa Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, Christina Mauser, 38, and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50.
Vanessa’s representative said first responders “walked around the wreckage and took pictures of broken bodies from the helicopter crash. They took close-ups of limbs, of burnt flesh. It shocks the conscience.” The jury also heard audio of an officer’s wife refusing to see the images because they were “piles of meat.”