Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven other people.
“When my oldest daughter was born, and I have a picture which we framed of him, and have in the house, of him holding her and giving her a kiss on the cheek,” former Laker teammate Jordan Farmar said. “Just how much he transitioned to being the ultra-fierce competitor to this soft, healthy, worldly guy. And I think his kids and his girls softened him up and made him that way.”
On January 26, 2020, a helicopter carrying the nine people crashed in heavy fog in Calabasas, Calif., killing all passengers. Among the nine was 56-year-old John Altobelli, a longtime baseball coach at Orange Coast College, his 46-year-old wife Keri and their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa. Thirty-eight-year-old Christina Mauser, wife, mother, and basketball coach from Huntington Beach, was also on board.
Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is currently embroiled in litigation with Los Angeles County over the sharing of personal cell phone photos by L.A. County Sheriff’s first responders at the crash scene. If no settlement can be reached, the federal trial is set to start February 22.
Prosecutors allege the crash-scene photos were passed around to 28 LA County Sheriff’s Department devices and others belonging to firefighters. They allege the photos were shown at bars and an awards gala.
