Kobe Bryant Crash: Vanessa Bryant Slams LA County For Describing Late Kobe & Gianna As 'Piles Of Meat'

On Friday, August 19, Vanessa Bryant took the stand in her Invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Los Angeles County, its Sheriff's department, its fire department, and eight other officials.

The widow of NBA legend Kobe Bryant sued the department for taking and sharing photos of the crash site where she lost her beloved husband and daughter, Gianna Bryant.

On Friday, which marked day 8 of the ongoing trial, Vanessa slammed the County's officials for the horrid description of her loved ones during their testimonies earlier in the week.

During her two-hour testimony, Vanessa recalled the graphic way first responders who were deposed earlier in the trial described her loving husband and daughter. "I did not know that people would refer to them as 'piles of meat,' 'gumbo,' and 'hamburger meat,'" she stated.

As The Blast previously reported, on day 2 of the trial, several first responders and bartender Victor Gutierrez, who was shown images of the crash site by Deputy Joey Cruz, took the stand.

Reserve deputy David Katz who was one of the first responders on the scene of the crash recalled "standing over two bodies" while seeing body parts scattered over the site of the wrack and beyond. He noted that the larger body belonged to the late Kobe.

"[There were] body parts, spread limbs, pieces of flesh hanging from trees, bushes… that were mixed with various helicopter parts. And blood in various places," Katz mentioned.

Capt. Emily Tauscher, the head of investigations at the LA County coroner's office, a key witness for Vanessa and Chris Chester who lost his wife and daughter in the crash, also took the stand, describing the remains in great detail.

Tauscher gave exceptional coverage of the remains of the victims to give the jurors an idea of what photos of the site would show and to establish the plaintiff’s claim that bartender Gutierrez’s knowledge about the specific injuries suffered only proves that County officials distributed the images.

Tauscher testified that human remains were scattered over 500 yards and the victims could only be identified through scientific means due to the extremity of their wounds. The late basketball legend was "amputated traumatically" and his right arm severed from his body. He also suffered multiple head and neck injuries while 13-year-old Gianna was found in a ravine with two other victims.

During Gutierrez‘s deposition, he was asked about what he saw on Deputy Cruz’s phone. The bartender answered, "I wouldn’t be able to really say because it was just parts." When asked about seeing pictures of remains that "appeared to be a girl," seemingly referring to the late Gianna, Gutierrez responded, "just parts," after which a visibly disturbed Vanessa was excused from the court at the asking of her attorney.

During the opening statements on Wednesday, August 10, one of Bryant’s attorneys Luis Li said, "County employees exploited the accident. They took and shared pictures of Kobe and Gianna as souvenirs. They walked around the wreckage and took pictures of broken bodies from the helicopter crash. They took close-ups of limbs, of burnt flesh. It shocks the conscience."

He also played audio of a detective during an earlier pre-trial deposition describing the bodies as "piles of meat."

After blasting County officials about their graphic descriptions, Vanessa shared her thoughts on the deputies’ testimonies that taking photos of the scene was part of the procedure. It also didn’t help that LA Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Johnson, who allegedly took "over 100 photos" testified to airdropping photos of the crash scenes to another fire official. However, the fire official is yet to be identified in the course of the litigation.

Vanessa testified that she didn’t think it was vital for Johnson to "take up-close photos of the victims," as he could "just count" the bodies. She also referenced contradictory testimonies from LASD and LACFD officials who testified earlier, noting that there has been "a lot of finger pointing."