Kobe Bryant crash photos shared during awards ceremony: witness


Photos taken at the scene of the fatal helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were released by a Los Angeles County firefighter during cocktail hour at an awards ceremony a month after the crash, according to witnesses crash shared.

The trial began on Wednesday over a federal civil lawsuit filed by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, alleging that photos from the January 2020 crash were shared by county fire department and sheriff’s department personnel in settings irrelevant to the investigation, including in a bar

Former paramedic and wife of a Los Angeles firefighter, Luella Weireter, testified in court Friday that during the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California’s Golden Mike awards ceremony in February 2020, she saw the LA County firefighter, Tony Imbrenda shared photos of Bryant’s remains and other images from the crash site with attendees at the ceremony.

Many firefighters attended the media event, which also honored the Fire Department’s Public Information Officers for their work in educating the public about wildfires.

After a small group of people gathered at her table to look at pictures on a cell phone, in what Weireter described as a party trick, she testified to seeing a firefighter break away from the group and said, “Me can’t believe i can do this i just looked at kobe’s burned body and now i’m about to eat.”

Following that comment, Vanessa Bryant was seen in the courtroom with her head in her hands, rocking back and forth and crying.

Weireter is the cousin of Keri Altobelli, who also died in the helicopter crash along with her husband John and their daughter Alyssa.

About two weeks after the award ceremony, Weireter drove to a Malibu county fire station and filed an official complaint with a battalion commander, she said. That same day, the LA County Fire Chief called her to investigate.

On Thursday afternoon, Vanessa Bryant left court during testimony describing photos taken at the scene of the crash. She got emotional when Victor Gutierrez, a bartender, was asked if he saw her daughter Gianna Bryant’s body in the pictures. Gutierrez had described what he had seen in the photos shown earlier in a bar by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

Bryant cried, stood up and her attorney asked the presiding judge for permission for Bryant to leave the courtroom.

Bryant did not return for the remainder of Gutierrez’ testimony, which continued with a series of surveillance clips from the bar where he worked on Jan. 28, 2020 — two days after the crash and a month before the awards show. Gutierrez described flinching at the photos, then admitted to sharing the condition of the victims’ bodies with five groups of people.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks and witnesses are likely to be Vanessa Bryant and LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The lawsuit, filed in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages and alleges civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and invasion of privacy.

A jury of six women and four men was selected for the case. These include a nun, someone who works in TV production for NBC Universal, a college student, a real estate investor, a pharmaceutical researcher, a computer science professor, and a restaurateur.