- Bryant and his daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash along with her daughter
- Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketballer
Image: Courtesy photo
Los Angeles County has agreed to pay nearly $29m (£24m) to basketball star Kobe Bryant's widow.
Bryant and his daughter Gianna died along with seven others when the aircraft crashed in the LA area, his wife, Vanessa Bryant, sued, saying first responders photographed human remains as tradable “souvenirs”.
According to LA County lawyers the settlement was fair and reasonable saying that Vanessa fought for her husband, her daughter, and all those in the community whose deceased family were treated with similar disrespect.
Mira Hashmall, the lead trial counsel for Los Angeles County in the case, noted that all county-related litigation from the crash had been resolved.
She said the $28,850,000 settlement included the $16m awarded by a federal jury in August 2022 to Mrs Bryant in her invasion of privacy lawsuit against Los Angeles County.
The gesture of Los Ageless agreeing to pay followed police’s sharing of graphic images for the star’s fatal helicopter crash.
In March 2021 Mrs Bryant shared the names of four sheriff's deputies she said had distributed "gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches", who had been travelling to a basketball game.
She explained that the pictures, including those of her 13-year-old daughter Gianna, were taken and shared "for no reason other than morbid gossip".
Mrs Bryant testified at the trial that she had read in media reports how photos of the crash were shown at a pub by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy.
Since then California passed a state law prohibiting first responders from taking unauthorized pictures of people who die at the scene of an accident or crime.
The aircraft in the crash that killed Bryant - a Sikorsky S-76B - went down into a hillside outside the city of Calabasas.
Conditions were foggy when the flight took off, and local police had grounded their helicopters due to the poor weather.
Meanwhile Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the 26th January 2020 crash, separately settled with the county for nearly $20m, attorneys as wells revealed.
Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketballer .A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20year career with the Loss Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association.
He was born on 23rd August 1978 and died on 26th January 2020 together with her daughter in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
Bryant was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association