The 2020 helicopter crash within the hills of Calabasas that took the lives of NBA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna; Sarah and Payton Chester; Keri, John and Alyssa Altobelli; Christina Mauser, and pilot Ara Zobayan despatched shock waves the world over.
However the unimaginable ache and grief sustained by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, was compounded when graphic photographs from the crash scene have been shared by Los Angeles County deputies and firefighters with one another, a few of their spouses, and in a single occasion with a bartender at a bar the place a deputy was consuming.
Although these photographs by no means appeared publicly, a jury final week mentioned the sharing amongst deputies and firefighters of grisly photographs of the our bodies of her husband and daughter invaded the privateness of Vanessa Bryant and triggered her emotional misery, leading to $15 million in damages awarded to the NBA star’s widow, a part of a $30 million courtroom settlement on Aug. 24.
Her co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose spouse and daughter Sarah and Payton, additionally killed within the crash, was additionally awarded $15 million.
On Tuesday, Aug. 30, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors handed a movement with a primary query: How can the county Sheriff’s Division and Fireplace Division forestall this sort of conduct from occurring once more?
The board movement asks the county attorneys to attract up new laws, insurance policies and extra coaching programs for first responders, particularly addressing the photographing of human stays whereas on responsibility. A report from the Workplace of the County Counsel was ordered by the board to be accomplished inside the subsequent 45 days.
That is in response to the jury’s verdict, which mentioned neither the Los Angeles County Fireplace Division or the Sheriff’s Division “had enough insurance policies and/or coaching in place that will forestall such a violation from occurring,” based on the board movement.
The movement was put forth by Supervisor Janice Hahn. Hahn’s workers member Liz Odendahl responded to questions by way of electronic mail in regards to the situation, saying, “The supervisor’s opinion is there isn't any purpose for a primary responder to be taking photographs at a crash scene.”
When requested what particular adjustments in insurance policies she recommends, the supervisor wrote in an electronic mail that any strengthening of insurance policies and coaching can be included within the report that comes again to the board.
“Within the aftermath of this public trial and big verdict, it is necessary that the County strengthen Fireplace Division and Sheriff’s Division insurance policies and coaching and take any steps obligatory to forestall such a conduct from ever occurring once more,” mentioned Hahn in a ready assertion.