Vanessa Bryant walks hand-in-hand with daughter Natalia as they attend court, days after she burst into tears when she said she feared police moved her daughter Gianna’s body to photograph it at the helicopter crash site
Vanessa Bryant was joined by her eldest daughter Natalia, 19, on Monday as she arrived in court for what is expected to be the final week of the hearings.
Bryant, 40, sues LA County Sheriff’s Office and LA County Fire Department for invasion of privacy
She took legal action after photos of the bodies of her husband Kobe, 41, and daughter Gianna, 13, were shared by officers after the fatal helicopter crash
On Monday, the court heard from Sheriff’s Office Commander William Jaeger, who testified about the internal investigation into the sharing of photos.
Then they heard from Anthony Marrone, the acting LA County fire chief, who denied ever telling his officers to photograph the bodies.
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Vanessa Bryant walked hand-in-hand with her daughter Natalia to a Los Angeles court on Monday — days after she collapsed and sobbed in the stands when she told a jury of how she had been “blindsided” and “betrayed” by police taking photos of the bodies of her husband Kobe and daughter Gianna.
Bryant’s widow is suing the LA County Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office for invasion of privacy after officers shared footage of the January 2020 crash.
With closing arguments in the trial expected this week, the 40-year-old arrived in court after two weeks of hearings along with her daughter Natalia, a 19-year-old model and college student.
Natalia’s 13-year-old sister Gianna was murdered along with their father.
Vanessa is also mother to five-year-old Bianka and Capri Kobe, 3.
Vanessa Bryant and her daughter Natalia, 19, arrive in court in Los Angeles on Monday morning
The Bryants and their legal team are seen as they arrive in court on Monday morning
Vanessa is the mother of Kobe’s four children: Gianna, 13, who died with her father in January 2020; Natalia (right), 19; Bianka, 5; and Capri, 3
Bryant will be seen in court on Monday, listening to testimonies from LA County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department officials
The court heard Monday from LA County Sheriff’s Department Commander William Jaeger about the internal investigation into the sharing of crime scene footage.
They also heard from Anthony Marrone, the acting LA County fire chief.
Marrone denied telling Captain Brian Jordan to photograph the crash site after Jordan insisted last week that he had commissioned the photos from Marrone.
Marrone was asked whether taking pictures was an insult to the dignity of the victims.
“I would like to think that the dignity of the victims remains whatever we do, because they are worthy people,” he said, according to a Law & Crime court reporter, Meghann Cuniff.
He stressed that pictures of victims were inappropriate.
“I think Captain Jordan’s dignity has been tarnished,” Marrone testified.
On Friday, Bryant burst into tears in the stands, testifying that she lives in constant fear that the photos of the bodies will be leaked on social media after officials shared them.
Bryant sobbed and gasped as she described running out of her house so her daughters wouldn’t see her cry after reading about the images’ existence, according to the New York Post.
The late NBA legend’s wife said she was breastfeeding her youngest child when she heard the news, saying, “I felt like I wanted to run down the block and scream.”
‘I can’t escape my body. I can’t escape what I feel,” she told the court.
Bryant confessed that she suffers from severe panic attacks because she fears that the graphic images of her deceased husband and daughter will one day surface online.
“I never want to see my babies that way,” she said.
“No one should ever see their family like that.”
Bryant told the court that County Sheriff Alex Villanueva – who told her there were no survivors of the crash – had not told her the scene had been photographed.
She said she was “blindsided” and felt “betrayed”.
‘I trusted them. I trusted them not to do these things,” she said.
Bryant added that she believed officials may have moved her 13-year-old daughter’s body to photograph her because of where she was.