Kobe Bryant’s widow has been awarded $16m (£13.5m) after first responders took and shared graphic images from the location of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star, their teenage daughter and 7 others.
A federal jury has discovered that Los Angeles County should pay damages over images of the NBA star’s physique on the web site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed him.
The jurors agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that her privateness was invaded when deputies and firefighters took and shared images of the stays of Bryant and their daughter Gianna.
Ms Bryant tearfully testified throughout the 11-day trial that information of the images compounded her grief after dropping her husband and daughter.
Speaking within the witness stand on Friday for greater than three hours, Ms Bryant stated she needed to start to grieve the lack of her husband and daughter, however was confronted with “fresh horror” after studying of the leaked images a month after the crash.
“I felt like I wanted to run, run down the block and scream,” she stated. “It was like the feeling of wanting to run down a pier and jump into the water.
“The drawback is I am unable to escape. I am unable to escape my physique.”
She informed the courtroom she took a cellphone name in regards to the story within the Los Angeles Times whereas she was holding her seven-month-old daughter and spending time with family and friends.
“I was blindsided again, devastated, hurt. I trusted them. I trusted them not to do these things.”
The courtroom was informed how a sheriff’s deputy shared the images of Bryant‘s physique with a bartender as he drank, and that firefighters circulated them amongst one another at a banquet.
Though the images have been by no means launched publicly, Ms Bryant stated: “I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up. I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.”
According to a lawyer for the county J Mira Hashmall, the images have been taken as a result of they have been deemed vital for assessing the location, however after LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva discovered they have been being shared, he demanded all copies be deleted.
Later, Ms Hashmall, whereas cross-examining Ms Bryant, stated the deputy who took the images, Doug Johnson, was solely attempting to make use of the images as a part of the investigation.
“You can understand why he would want the same information you did,” Ms Hashmall stated.
“I don’t think you need to take close-up photos of people to determine how many people are on an aircraft,” Ms Bryant replied. “I think he could have just counted.”
Source: information.sky.com”