That’s What Friends Are For: Vanessa Bryant Had Monica And Ciara By Her Side At Court

Ciara, Vanessa Bryant, Monica        Source: Marcus Ingram; Amy Sussman; Unique Nicole / Getty

For her court date on Aug. 22, Vanessa Bryant had her riders by her side. As she walked into court with her daughter Natalia, singers Monica and Ciara will also there for moral support.

Monica and Ciara sat behind Bryant as she listened to a testimony from Captain William Jaegar, an internal affairs officer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. When she became overwhelmed, Bryant would exit the court room. Monica and Ciara would follow her out to console her and return when told to by her attorney, Page Six noted.

Bryant sued Los Angeles County after photos of the deadly plane crash site where Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna died were shared. After the crash, Vanessa Bryant asked Sheriff Alex Villanueva from the Lost Hills Sheriff Station to keep paparazzi away from the crash site. She also requested that the Calabasas area be declared a no-fly zone. In the lawsuit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies are the accused culprits. Five deputies were investigated by internal affairs for leaking photos. One deputy, Joey Cruz, admitted to showing pictures of body parts at the crash site to a bartender, according to Page Six.

She told the court that since the photos had been taken, she has lived “in fear every day of being on social media and having these photos pop up.”

“I want to remember my husband and my daughter the way that they were,” she said. “I don’t ever want to see these photographs. I have three little girls!”

Bryant gave a three-hour testimony in court on Friday, Aug. 19. While on the stand, she recalled when she saw that the graphic photos of her late husband, daughter and seven other crash victims had been leaked.

“I just remember not wanting to react because the girls were in the room,” she said according to reports. “I bolted out of the house and I broke down and cried and I just wanted to run down the block and scream. I can’t escape my body. I can’t escape what I feel.”

The mother-of-four also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, who employed pilot Ara Zobayan who flew Bryant’s jet the day of the crash.

According to People, Bryant alleged that Zobayan “failed to properly monitor and assess the weather prior to takeoff. He is also accused of failing to “abort the flight when he knew of the cloudy conditions” and not “properly and safely operate the helicopter resulting in a crash.”

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