An invasion of privacy trial against the Los Angeles County sheriff's and fire departments is set to begin on Wednesday in a U.S. District Court just over a mile from where Kobe Bryant played for the Lakers.
Bryant's widow claims that the photos were not taken for investigative purposes and were shared with firefighters. A firefighter showed the photos to off-duty colleagues, according to the lawsuit.
Bryant is asking for a lot of money.
The lawsuit says that Mrs. Bryant feels ill at the thought that people would look at pictures of her dead husband and child. She lives in fear that she or her children will face horrible images of their loved ones online.
Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and five other parents and players were on their way to a girls' basketball tournament when their helicopter crashed. The crash was blamed on pilot error.
Bryant has sued the helicopter charter company.
Bryant has suffered emotional distress from the deaths, not the photos, according to the county. The lawsuit is speculative because the photos have never been in the media or on the internet.
It's a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of dead people at crime scenes.
Two families whose relatives died in the crash brought a case against the county. She did not settle her case, which indicates she is looking for more.
At times, the litigation has been downright ugly.
Bryant's lawyers criticized the "scorched-earth discovery tactics" used by the county to get a psychiatric evaluation of her.
Bryant's case was dismissed by the county as a money grab.
The AP contributed.
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