Kobe Bryant widow awarded $16M in trial over crash photos

By ANDREW DALTON
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal jury has found that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant’s widow $16 million for emotional distress caused by deputies and firefighters sharing photos of the bodies of the NBA star and his daughter taken at the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed them. The jurors who returned the verdict Wednesday agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that her privacy was invaded when they took and shared photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna. Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her grief after losing her husband and daughter. County attorneys argued that the photos were necessary to assess the scene.