CHOPPER SUIT SETTLED
Vanessa Bryant SETTLES wrongful death suit against helicopter firm in crash that killed Kobe, daughter Gianna & 7 others
VANESSA Bryant settled the wrongful death suit against the helicopter firm in the crash that killed Kobe, their daughter Gianna, and seven others.
Bryant's legal team filed a notice of settlement with the court, but the terms of the settlement are confidential, according to court documents .
7
7
The late NBA star's wife sued Island Express in February 2020, blaming the company for the helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter a month earlier.
The suit alleged that the weather conditions and fog in the area on the day of the crash were not safe for flying and that pilot, Ara George Zobayan, failed to properly assess the conditions before takeoff.
Zobayan was one of the nine people killed in the crash.
The passengers were all headed to a basketball tournament at Kobe's Mamba Sports Academy at the time of the tragic crash.
The basketball great was earlier this year.
7
7
Zobayan had reportedly been trying to navigate dense fog that limited visibility and Bryant's suit charged that the pilot should have known not to fly.
He was cited by the Federal Aviation Administration once before the crash, in May 2015, for violating rules about flying with reduced visibility, according to the suit.
Bryant also has another ongoing suit against the LA County Sheriff's Department over photos deputies snapped and shared of the horrific crash site.
The basketball star's widow, 39, of the crash scene.
Last month, she posted photos of court documents .
7
7
The suit names Los Angeles County, the , the sheriff’s department, and the four deputies — Joey Cruz, Rafael Mejia, Michael Russell, and Raul Versales — as plaintiffs in the case.
Bryant’s lawsuit alleged that within 48 hours of the crash, photos had spread to at least 10 members of the department.
One deputy took between 25 and 100 photos of the crash scene on his cell phone, according to the suit.
There also some disturbing allegations about what those deputies did with the photos of Kobe, Gianna, 13, and the other passengers.
The second part of the lawsuit she shared included allegations that officer Joey Cruz, showed crash photographs to a bartender at the Baja California Bar and Grill in Norwalk, California.
One of the customers described his alleged actions as "very, very disturbing."
7
Cruz is also accused of showing the photos to his niece.
He also allegedly made "a crude remark about the state of the victims' remains."
The suit alleges that on the day of the crash Mejia, who was assigned to the crash site, obtained photos from fire department personnel.
He then allegedly walked over to chat with a female deputy who wasn't involved in the investigation - and for no reason other than "morbid gossip," sent them to her cellphone.
Mejia is accused of passing the photos to Cruz, a trainee deputy at the time in the suit.
Another officer, deputy Michael Russell, allegedly sent photos to a friend with whom he "plays video games nightly."
Most read in News
According to the lawsuit, Sheriff Alex Villanueva summoned those deputies who had taken the photos into his office.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
He allegedly told the cops that if they deleted the photos they would not be disciplined.
Internal affairs were allegedly not told about the breach of privacy, and no probe was started until news of the photos was made public.
Topics