Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, who in recent weeks has been conducting a trial against the police investigators who arrived at the scene of the crash in which her partner and her housemate Ginny were killed, took the witness stand during the weekend and revealed what has happened to her and her family since the tragedy.
Bryant revealed the terror she has experienced since the crash and revealed that she had to deal with the loss at the same time as the publication of the photos allegedly distributed by the sheriff's deputies and firefighters who documented the disaster and shared photos of the bodies from the helicopter crash site.
"I felt like I wanted to run down the street and just scream," she said through tears, "the problem is I can't run away."
Vanessa testified for three hours in the Los Angeles court where the lawsuit she filed against the county police for invasion of privacy is ongoing.
Bryant shared the difficulties of publicly dealing with the tragedy, saying that she had to fight with herself to go through all the public, public and private ceremonies and memorials for the disaster that happened on January 26, 2020.
Evidence presented at trial showed that a sheriff's deputy circulated a photo of Bryant Leverman's body at a local bar, prompting another man who had been drinking nearby to file a formal complaint.
At the same time it turned out that a number of firefighters who were at the scene shared the photos with each other, and others shared them with their spouses.
The monument in memory of Kobe and Genie in Los Angeles, photo: AFP
According to the attorney for the district, the photos were taken because they were essential for professional use for the analysis of the scene site moments after the crash, and said that when the sheriff, Alex Villanueva, learned that they were being distributed, he demanded that they all be deleted.
None of the photos have been made public, but Bryant herself said she suffers from constant worry that some of them may yet become public.
"I live in fear every day of being on social networks and they will suddenly pop up," she testified.
"I live in fear that my daughters will be on social media and suddenly these photos will pop up."
According to her, the thought disturbs her sleep at night.
She testified that she sleeps next to her daughters (3,5) and sometimes even suffers from anxiety attacks.
Vanessa and Kobe Bryant in 2019, photo: AFP
On cross-examination, Bryant testified that she had not been diagnosed with anxiety attacks, or any other mental health disorder, nor had she been prescribed or taken medication for them.
The defense representative even showed the list of things that Kobe's widow does in her life - including the role of president of her husband's multimedia company, and overseeing the publication of two different books - and claimed that she was able to do all of these, indicating that she is functioning well and has overcome the side effects of the anxiety attacks .
Vanessa cried and laughed alternately during the testimony, in the part where she told about her life with her husband, "the proud father of his daughters".
"He was just such a beautiful father and so devoted," she said about Kobi.
She described the day of the crash, her agony and frustration trying to figure out whether her husband and daughter were still alive after rumors initially spread that there were five survivors.
She described the moment the local sheriff confirmed to her that her husband and daughter had been killed.
He asked if there was anything he could do for her.
"I told him, if you can't get my babies back, then please secure the area," Vanessa said.
"I'm worried about paparazzi."
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