‘CALLOUS’

LA County to Kobe’s Widow: Prove You Truly Suffered

Lawyers for Vanessa Bryant blasted the request as a “scorched-earth” tactic in the legal battle over crime-scene photos.

Los Angeles County is demanding Kobe Bryant’s widow take a psychiatric exam. The request is in response to a lawsuit filed by Vanessa Bryant and other relatives of the fatal crash that killed the NBA star last year—one that claims they suffered severe emotional distress due to grisly photos taken by law enforcement officers from the scene. USA Today reports that the county contends the distress derives solely from the crash itself, not the officers’ photos, which were shared internally but not made public. Lawyers for the victims blasted the county, saying psychiatric exams—some for plaintiffs as young as 5—was a “scorched-earth” move. “Apparently, in the County’s estimation, top officials should be shielded from providing any testimony, but the victims should not only withstand the emotional toll of a full-day deposition, but also submit to an eight-hour involuntary psychiatric examination simply because they had the audacity to demand accountability for Defendants’ disrespect of the dead and callous intrusion upon their private grief,” they stated.