This archive report was first published on 12 May 2020.
On January 26, 2020, the world lost a basketball legend when Kobe Bryant's helicopter crashed in Calabasas, California, killing the 41-year-old NBA icon and seven others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna.
Now, the representative of the pilot who flew the doomed helicopter, Ara George Zobayan, has made a shocking claim, suggesting that the passengers on board were to blame for the accident.
According to a statement revealed by TMZ, the representative alleged that the passengers were negligent and that their actions were a substantial factor in causing the crash.
The statement, which was made in response to a lawsuit filed by Kobe's wife Vanessa, claimed that the passengers 'knew and voluntarily encountered the risks involved' and that their negligence was a substantial factor in causing the crash.
Vanessa Bryant has filed a lawsuit against the pilot and the helicopter company, Island Express, alleging that they were only allowed to fly under visual flight rules and that the conditions on the day of the crash were not conducive to such flying.
The lawsuit also claims that the pilot failed to use ordinary care in piloting the aircraft and was negligent.
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the pilot was disciplined in 2015 for violating the visual flight rule minimums by flying into an airspace of reduced visibility.
Vanessa Bryant has also filed a claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, contending that deputies shared unauthorized photos of the site where her husband and daughter died in a helicopter crash.
She claims that Sheriff Alex Villanueva personally assured her that the family's privacy would be protected as it related to the crash site, but that deputies took photos for their own personal purposes.
