![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jury selection begins in Vanessa Bryant's trial over crash scene photos "And I felt I had to do the right thing and tell the sheriff's department what I'd seen." "I was in disbelief, disappointed, disgusted and angry," Mendez said. Mendez testified that he was shocked and upset when Gutierrez said that a sheriff's deputy had just shown him the crash-site photos. "Is that (description) true?" one of Bryant's attorneys asked. Mendez provided a lighter moment Thursday when asked the name of his team. you've gotta be psycho to do that," Gutierrez told jurors, adding that he believed the deputy came into the bar because "he just needed to talk to someone" about what he'd seen at the crash site.īut after Cruz left the bar, the video appears to show Gutierrez excitedly telling at least five people at the bar what he'd seen, and seems to demonstrate in gestures the condition of the victims - including Kobe Bryant's decapitated body.Īmong those that heard Gutierrez's description that night was Rafael Mendez Jr., a member of a local softball team that often stopped at the bar after games. "What type of human being would laugh about human remains. RELATED: Jury selection begins over leaked helicopter crash scene photos Surveillance footage from the bar apparently shows Cruz displaying photos for a wincing Gutierrez and another man, and making gestures as if mimicking the catastrophic injuries suffered by the victims.Īsked if Cruz was laughing while showing the pictures, the bartender said he was "100% sure" that the levity apparent on the surveillance video had nothing to do with the cell phone images. In addition to Bryant and the defendants, the witness list includes Sheriff Alex Villanueva, current and former law enforcement personnel, journalists – and a bartender who saw crash photos and the patron who complained to the sheriff’s department as alleged in the suit.Ĭatherine Gasol, Rob and Kristin Pelinka, and Kobe’s sister Sharia Washington are expected to testify regarding Bryant’s emotional distress, though these witnesses are not aware of Bryant seeing any photos published by the media or made available online, according to the document.Bartender testifies in Kobe Bryant lawsuitĪ bartender told a federal jury Thursday of being shown gruesome cell phone images of Kobe Bryant's remains by an off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy who had been on the scene of the helicopter crash that killed the Lakers star and eight others two days earlier.Īs questioning centered on the images and the bartender's reaction to them, Kobe's widow sobbed and left the seventh-floor courtroom in downtown Los Angeles. Lawyers plan to call at least 12 witnesses each and nearly 28 others may be called to testify by either side, according to the filing. The trial is set for February 22 and lawyers estimate it will take about 15 days. In September 2020, Vanessa Bryant filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County in federal court seeking undisclosed damages, claiming civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and violation of privacy. Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among nine people killed in the crash in Calabasas, California, in January 2020. Skip Miller, partner of the Barondess Law Firm and outside counsel for the county, had no comment. Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, among 9 killed in a helicopter crash in California (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Ethan Miller/Getty Images NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 27: Gianna Bryant and her father, former NBA player Kobe Bryant, attend the WNBA All-Star Game 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Jin Las Vegas, Nevada. ![]()
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