In federal court on Friday, Vanessa Bryant shared an emotional testimony about how she was impacted by the leaking of photos that depicted the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Kobe, and daughter, Gianna.
Bryant was in court on Friday to testify in her lawsuit against Los Angeles County in which she alleges that members of the sheriff and fire department shared personal photos of the horrific crash that killed nine people. She described her reaction when news broke that photos of the crash were being shared among members of local law enforcement.
"I ran to the side of the house and broke down - I wanted to run and scream," Bryant said, according to a report from Insider. "It was like having the sensation of wanting to run off a pier into the ocean, but I can't escape my body."
When she realized that those horrific photos were in circulation, Bryant said the only options she had were to "try to live my life or end it."
Bryant said she is still experiencing pain from the loss of her loved ones, but knowing how many people shared the pictures with others has brought her added stress.
"The grief is from their loss," Bryant said. "The fear and anxiety is from those photos."
In a prior testimony from Victor Gutierrez, a former bartender at Baja California Bar and Grill in Norwalk, he claims a sheriff's deputy trainee showed him photos of the crash that featured Kobe Bryant's body.
Los Angeles Lakers general manager and long-time agent of Kobe Bryant, Rob Pelinka, also took the stand recently. He made it clear that he wants the photos to be completely scrubbed from the public eye.
"I would want them destroyed and removed from the universe," Pelinka said.
