Man who lost wife, daughter in Kobe crash describes ordeal in court

By FRED SHUSTER

An Orange County man who lost his wife and daughter in the helicopter crash that killed NBA star Kobe Bryant told a jury Thursday that when he heard news reports that gruesome photos of the accident scene had been snapped and shared by first responders, his reaction was “disbelief that shifted to anger.”

Chris Chester, an Irvine financial adviser, testified that he was shocked on Feb. 28, 2020 — his 46th birthday — when news broke that not only were crash scene photos taken by Los Angeles County personnel, they were displayed for others at a bar and at an awards ceremony and texted to others.

“I couldn’t construct a scenario where that would happen,” the even-toned Chester said during questioning by his attorney in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. “I had largely insulated my family from the details (of the injuries suffered by their loved ones). Now, I thought there would be pictures of the remains (on the internet).”

But, as the defense has frequently pointed out during the trial, the photos have not surfaced online in the two and a half years since the tragedy. Multiple County fire and sheriff’s personnel have taken the stand in during the federal civil trial and told jurors they deleted whatever accident-site pictures they had on their cell phones. Attorneys for the county have argued that the deletion of photos permanently prevented their public dissemination.

“I’m fearful everyday,” Chester testified. “There’s been a lot of things that people thought didn’t exist — that have turned up on the internet.”

Chester and Vanessa Bryant are suing the County in federal court for unspecified millions of dollars for negligence and invasion of privacy over the photos, which they have never seen. Bryant’s husband Kobe and 13-year-old daughter Gianna, Chester’s wife, Sarah, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter Payton were among the nine people killed in the crash.

Vanessa Bryant is scheduled to take the stand Friday.

The plaintiffs allege LA County’s first responders took grisly cell phone pictures of human remains at the remote Calabasas crash site for their own amusement as “souvenirs” and shared them with other law enforcement personnel and members of the public.

The County contends all images taken by its sheriff’s deputies and firefighters were deleted upon orders of their superior officers, no longer exist in any form and never entered the public domain or appeared on the internet.

Bryant and Chester allege mental anguish over the thought that one day in the future, those photos will turn up in public.

Asked by a County attorney why he felt he needed to sue, Chester said, “The way I look at it is, when you do something wrong, you either go to jail or (you have to pay) money.”

As the plaintiffs’ case draws to a close with testimony from Chester and Bryant, the jury has now heard from county personnel who have admitted variously taking cell phone pictures at the accident scene, sending them to colleagues, or showing them to friends in law enforcement. In one case, a deputy sheriff expressed great regret that he took his cell phone to a bar in Norwalk and showed accident scene images to a bartender friend.

On Thursday, Chester described for the rapt nine-member jury — which includes a nun — the morning of Jan. 26, 2020, the day of the fatal crash.

Chester said it was an untypical Sunday morning — while his teenage sons were getting ready to play lacrosse, his wife and basketball-playing daughter were planning to catch a ride with Kobe Bryant and Gianna on a helicopter from Orange County to Ventura County, where Payton was to play in a game at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. Kobe had been coaching his daughter and Payton on a team at the academy.

Payton had been on the team for years.

“She loved it,” her father said. “Payton was quite an accomplished little basketball player.”

The last time he saw his daughter, Chester testified, he “gave her a rah-rah speech, kissed Sarah, and said I’ll see them that night.”

Within hours, he began thinking it strange that he hadn’t heard from them since they usually kept in close contact. Then his brother-in-law texted, asking if he knew where Sarah was.

“He said there’d been reports of a crash,” Chester told the jury. “I called Kobe’s assistant, and she let me know that we’d lost communication somewhere between Orange County and Calabasas.”

Chester said he immediately left the lacrosse game with a friend who began driving toward Calabasas. While en route, TMZ reported that Kobe Bryant had been aboard a helicopter that had crashed. He said he called the sheriff’s department, and was told to go directly to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station.

“My mind was racing,” he said, adding that as he approached Calabasas he could see smoke rising from the hills.

At the station, it was confirmed there were no survivors. Eventually, Sheriff Alex Villanueva appeared, and Chester said the lawman “understood” that the area had to be “locked down” to keep media and fans away.

There was nothing more Chester could do, so he and his friend who was driving started back home. They stopped at a Calabasas convenience store where “everybody was talking about (the crash) — and people wearing Kobe (hats and jerseys) were heading to the site to get a water bottle or something,” Chester said from the stand.

Chester said he assumed the crash scene would be handled in a “sensitive and professional” fashion. “I didn’t even know (first responders) had cell phones,” he told jurors.

“It never crossed my mind in my wildest imagination that (a first responder) would take pictures up there,” he said.

When he heard the news a month later about the picture-sharing, Chester testified that he immediately told his sons, “Please don’t start Googling for them.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs contend the images spread to at least 10 others, but there has been no evidence presented that the photos still exist or ever turned up in public.

Along with Chester and Bryant’s loved ones, the crash killed Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and pilot Ara Zobayan, 50.

The defense is expected to start presenting its case on Friday, following Bryant’s testimony.

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