On the morning of January 26, 2020, my family and I were driving back from breakfast in Malibu. We were on Mulholland Canyon, driving home, in the fog. About an hour later local TV news was reporting a crash near Mulholland Drive. Soon the world learned it was a helicopter containing Kobe Bryant his daughter and other parents and children. I calculated the timeline. We passed the spot no more than 10 minutes before the crash and about 100 yards from the hill’s base.
The public was informed that County personnel had taken photos of the wreckage and body parts at the crash site. After seeing the photos, the Sheriff ordered that all photos be deleted.
Vanessa Bryant also was informed about the photos and she sued the Sheriff of Los Angeles County and the Sheriff for emotional distress in September 2020. A portion claims:
The defendants “didn’t conduct a standard inquiry or collect, inspect or search the offenders’ cellphones to determine how many were there, whether and how much they had transmitted, or whether they were stored” [in an internet cloud].
Soon afterward, the national conversation on crash site photos started. California passed legislation making it a crime to publish crash photos by public employees.
The defendants tried unsuccessfully to dismiss the suit.
The federal magistrate refused to agree and ruled in favor of the defendants. Vanessa cannot see the photos without a computer.
The retired cop claimed that cops kept death records of celebrities for other cops. Bryant and her family have not been sued over the photos. I doubt Bryant will ever see them.
Brian Jordon is a former firefighter and took the stand Monday. Depending on the question, Jordon could recall what he saw at the crash site. Brian Jordon, a former firefighter, took the stand Monday, and depending on the question, he remembered what he did at the crash site. Demi Moore, in A Few Good Men, is “strenuously objecting” to that particular “objection”. Demi Moore in A Few Good Men is “strenuously objecting to” that particular “objection “.
The trial has been completed after nine days. Bryant has not seen the crash photos and will not.
Bryant and her kids are always in my thoughts, but at least they didn’t see the photos.
