• Vanessa Bryant won the civil trial.
• During the civil trial in Los Angeles some of the first responders displayed the images to bystanders, including a bartender.
• Bryant and Chester each received a $16 million and $15 million payment order from the county.

Vanessa Bryant won the civil trial. In response to gruesome images of the helicopter crash that claimed the life of basketball star Kobe Bryant, a jury on Wednesday ordered Los Angeles County to pay $31 million in damages to the widow and another co-plaintiff.

Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who arrived on the scene of the January 2020 collision took photos of the carnage, which included the icon of the Los Angeles Lakers and his 13-year-old daughter’s mutilated remains.

During the civil trial in Los Angeles, it was revealed that some of the first responders displayed the images to bystanders, including a bartender, while one of the deputies texted a friend while the two were playing video games.

Los Angeles County argued that the images had never been made public and that officials had worked hard to remove them from devices.

However, during the two-week trial, it was revealed that Vanessa and Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the collision, live in constant fear of these photos one day turning up online.

In lawsuits that have been merged, the couple each claimed that the pictures had caused them emotional harm.

Bryant and Chester each received a $16 million and $15 million payment order from the county.

On Tuesday, Chester’s attorney demanded that damages be determined according to the remaining lives of the two claimants.

He had requested $30 million for Chester, age 48, and $40 million for Bryant, age 40.

Jerry Jackson, an attorney, remarked that “you can’t award too much money for what they went through.”

A hero to the people of Los Angeles, Bryant and his wife are seeking “justice and accountability,” according to their attorney Craig Lavoie.

Lavoie asked the jury to hold the county accountable for “the constitutional infractions of its workers,” stating that “we are here because of willful conduct — the county violated Mrs. Bryant and Mr. Chester’s constitutional rights.”

After nearly four and a half hours of discussion, the jury in downtown Los Angeles reached their decision.

In relation to the photo-taking, other victims’ families received $2.5 million in compensation last year.

After flying the Sikorsky S-76 into fog, the pilot most likely lost his bearings, according to an assessment into the disaster.

Bryant is regarded as one of the all-time greats in basketball, and his two sparkling decades with the Los Angeles Lakers helped him establish himself as the sport’s spokesman.

In his career, which he began in 1996 right out of high school and continued until his retirement in 2016, he won five NBA championships.

Also Read

Vanessa Bryant claims that the leaked pictures caught her off guard

Vanessa Bryant is suing Los Angeles County after it is claimed that...