Los Angeles County asked a judge to force Vanessa Bryant and others to take a psychiatric evaluation before they head to trial in an ongoing lawsuit against the county, according to NPR.
Vanessa Bryant and others are suing the county over leaked images from the helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, were among the nine people who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
- Multiple reports surfaced later that officers had leaked graphic photos from the crash online. The photos had been reportedly taken by police officials at the crime scene.
- In September 2020, families of the victims of the crash, including Vanessa Bryant, sued Los Angeles County, saying the leak was a violation of civil rights and caused emotional distress, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
But attorneys for L.A. County said Friday Vanessa Bryant and others in the case should go under a psychiatric exam to make sure that the families are suffering from “severe emotional distress,” according to NPR, which reviewed the court documents.
- The evaluation is necessary “to evaluate the existence, extent and nature of Plaintiffs’ alleged emotional injuries,” the attorneys said, per NPR.
- “A central tenet of the County’s defense is that Plaintiffs’ severe emotional and mental injuries were not caused by any conduct of Defendants, but rather by the tragic helicopter crash and resulting deaths of their loved ones,” the attorney’s said. “Plaintiffs cannot be suffering distress from accident site photos that they have never seen and that were never publicly disseminated.”
Bryant’s team said that the county had used “scorched earth discovery tactics” that was meant to “bully” the families, according to The Washington Post.
- A judge has been scheduled to rule on the motion Nov. 5.