0:06

Sunday morning, January

0:09

our Zabayan was piloting a private helicopter

0:12

with Kobe Bryant, Bryant's daughter and their

0:14

friends to a basketball tournament in Thousand

0:16

Oaks, California. Along the

0:18

way, he's a buying, encountered fog and was

0:21

in constant contact with air traffic controllers.

0:24

Everything seemed normal until to

0:26

echo ACTRA you're still at level

0:29

for following radio

0:32

silence two

0:36

Echo actrascount. I'm

0:41

Steve Gregory in Los Angeles and this

0:43

is the death and life of Kobe Bryant.

0:48

Helicopter

0:51

crashed into a mountain. We heard it

0:54

and now I'm looking at the flames Malibu

0:56

Canyon and Agora Road on the Ari Juan

0:58

Supermarket. We can see it. I'm

1:03

at four two three five Lost

1:06

Virgins Road. I just towed a helicopter

1:08

door re me approximately from Loss

1:10

Hills Road at went over my head. It's

1:13

quick and clouds and then I just heard

1:15

a pop and it immediately stopped.

1:20

Yes, that was just clarifying where that plane

1:22

went down. It's right

1:25

behind the loss

1:27

Or Metropolitan Water District, Los Virginus

1:30

Metropolitan Water District, laid

1:32

behind the building. The flames have

1:34

gone out. I can just see smoked down

1:36

barely anything last Virginism

1:39

Mahad Yes, okay, yeah

1:41

it's not it's not maholl And.

1:43

It's too far south, So what's a better locations.

1:46

I can tell my units behind the Corporate

1:48

Water District building about a

1:51

quarter of a mile up in the hills. Okay,

1:53

I can see the flames still. By

1:55

now, fire and rescue crews have arrived

1:58

on scene and some actually had to be airlifted

2:00

to the crash site. Captain Tony

2:02

and Brenda was a public information officer

2:04

with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and

2:06

met reporters down at the bottom of the hill

2:08

who had been sent there to the scene, not knowing

2:10

at the time who was on board. Still

2:13

early on in this incident, we received

2:15

a call just before ten am this morning

2:17

l a County Fire dispatch of an aircraft

2:20

down here in uh the

2:22

Malibu area, right off the Lost Virgins

2:25

essentially Calabasas, right off the Lost

2:27

Virgines Road here and apparently

2:30

some folks were out here mountain bike

2:32

in this morning and saw an aircraft in

2:34

distress that went down into

2:36

the hillside. Um there. This

2:38

was a helicopter it's been confirmed that it was in

2:41

S seventy six so Korsky

2:43

helicopter and unfortunately

2:45

there were no survivors. Um Right

2:47

now, we're in the very early phase of this. We still

2:49

have some fire activity on the hill, so

2:52

La County Fire Department units are

2:54

are doing a progressive hoseley right now to

2:56

get water up. The aircraft is down

2:59

pretty far from the old so we're having

3:01

to put several hundred feet of hose in

3:03

to get up there to cool down the

3:05

scene. And right now we're waiting for the arrival

3:07

and TSB investigators. There's

3:10

not much more to add right now. We're still in the

3:12

very early phase of this. We just know

3:14

that it's multiple fatalities and there were no survivors.

3:17

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex v In a WAVA

3:19

remembers getting the call. I got a phone

3:21

call from a EID. I was in uh I believe

3:24

uptown wire and he

3:26

said, hey, there's been a helicopter

3:28

crash in in the Lost Hills area, Calabasas,

3:31

which is not unusual and of itself,

3:33

because it happens every few months. There's always

3:35

a crash with a fatality too. He

3:37

said, no this is I got a lot more of his nine

3:40

and one of them maybe Kobe every calibrator

3:42

right there, realizing, oh boy, so made

3:44

a B line home, got changed out

3:46

and we made a bee line over to Lost

3:49

Hills station. Knowing what that

3:52

entailed, the onslaught of the media,

3:54

and of course as as we're driving

3:57

over there, we're asking all the impertinent questions. Make

3:59

sure that all the operational things

4:01

that happened. They set up a perimeter.

4:04

Uh, they got a containment are set

4:06

up. They have people that are assisting with actually

4:08

going to the site to see if there are any survivors and

4:11

to render aid because we typically

4:13

we're going to get there before fired us on almost

4:16

every scene. And uh

4:18

then fire. It was so remote that fire

4:21

had to be flown in to access it. I

4:23

think it took our guys almost forty

4:26

five minutes to hack their way to

4:28

the point of it because there was no clear trail that

4:31

they knew of at the time because they're going on

4:34

visual, so they huffed it on foot to

4:36

get there. For those involved, there was one

4:38

of those events that they were never gonna forget. I was in the

4:40

newsroom that morning. I was filling in as an anchor

4:43

for a coworker, and as I was writing

4:45

my newscast, I noticed an alert

4:47

pop up on our news wire service, Kobe

4:50

Bryant dyings in helicopter crash.

4:52

I paused for a moment to let that

4:55

sink in. I thought it was a hoax.

4:58

I went down the hall to our sports affili to ask

5:00

their staff, but they hadn't heard anything yet.

5:03

I decided to call a source with the l A County

5:05

Sheriff's Department, who actually confirmed it was

5:07

Kobe. And when I saw the alert

5:09

pop up again, it also added the source

5:11

of the information to TMZ Sports

5:14

and we'll explore that angle in a future episode.

5:16

It was time to break into our regular

5:19

programming kf I am

5:21

sixty Breaking News. I'm

5:24

Steve Gregory in the KFI news center.

5:26

This is breaking news coming from the KMFI news

5:28

room. We are being told that Lakers

5:31

star Kobe Bryant has been killed

5:33

in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.

5:36

There was a helicopter crash early this morning around

5:39

am. The only County Sheriff's Department

5:41

says the helicopter is a Sikorski and

5:43

it was registered to the f A A as a private

5:46

helicopter to Kobe Bryant. We're

5:48

told that others on board were also killed,

5:51

not including Vanessa Bryant,

5:53

Kobe Bryant's wife. Again from the KFI

5:55

new Center, we're just being told moments ago it's

5:57

been confirmed that Basketball let

6:00

and Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter

6:02

crash. We'll have more at the top of the hour on kf I

6:04

Am six forty. More stimulating

6:06

talk. Now, back to more stimulating

6:09

talk on kf I Am six. Behind

6:11

the scenes, I'm calling my news director and program

6:13

director, and after a brief discussion, it was

6:16

decided our station would go into what we call

6:18

wall to all coverage. That's when we blow out commercials

6:20

and bringing our talk show host to actually anchor live

6:23

coverage. The other story we've been focused

6:25

on that day was about a strange flu

6:27

like virus that had been discovered in Wuhan,

6:30

China, and whether or not it was a danger

6:32

to southern California. I did have an

6:34

opportunity to sit down exclusively with Eli

6:36

County Sheriff v and Wave to ask him a lot

6:38

of questions about that day. As he looks back, one

6:41

of them was when he thought it was time

6:43

to talk with the media and why the

6:46

crash had occurred. We had a potential up to

6:48

nine victims that we could not

6:50

confirm the identity of any individual victim,

6:53

and so everyone else ran with a story

6:55

that was COVID because somebody got

6:57

ahold. I think through TMZ that

7:00

they already put together. They had the manifest

7:02

of the flight and they had all the names,

7:05

but we weren't going to confirm anyone until we

7:07

got that from the corner. So within a few hours

7:10

of the accident, the sheriff and Elly County's

7:12

fire chief had their first press briefing in

7:14

front of the Sheriff's departments. Lost Hills

7:16

Substation in Calabasas.

7:18

Personnel from Las Hils Sheriff's states and responded

7:21

to the scene of the crash site and

7:24

assisted the fire department, and we've

7:26

established a containment

7:28

area. And now our Aero

7:31

Bureau has a handle on traffic

7:34

aircraft accidents. However, when there's a fatality

7:37

then it switches to the National Transportation

7:39

Safety Bureau the NTS, and the Federal

7:41

Aviation Administration the f A. A

7:43

f A is already unseen and assisting.

7:46

We're waiting the rival of the Corners Office

7:49

to assist in the recovery of the remains. As

7:52

the chief indicated there were no survivors.

7:54

We have a manifest that indicates that there was

7:57

nine people on board the aircraft, the

7:59

pilot plus eight individuals. Uh,

8:02

there is wine speculation

8:04

and whose identities are. However, it is being

8:07

entirely inappropriate right now to identify

8:09

anyone by name until the Corner

8:11

has made the identification through their very

8:14

deliberative profits and they made notifications

8:16

and next of kin, and it would be

8:19

extremely disrespectful to understand

8:21

that your loved one of those parents that

8:23

you learn about it from TMZ. That

8:25

is just wholly inappropriate.

8:28

So we're not going to be going there, and we're gonna

8:30

wait till the Corner does their job, and

8:33

we're assisting the families of those who

8:35

believe there have been impacted. And it's a it's

8:37

a it's a tough process, and

8:39

our hope goes out to all of the members they

8:41

were on board, all the family of everyone

8:44

who was on board this aircraft, and uh,

8:46

God bless their souls. So at

8:48

this point in time, we have nothing that we can add

8:51

until the Corner does

8:53

her job. And we'll be making

8:55

those notifications. When we have the information

8:58

and we know the next of kin have been notified, then we

9:00

can release the information publicly that

9:02

you'll be notified in subsequent announcement.

9:05

This was only supposed to be a briefing. Neither the chief

9:07

nor the sheriff would answer questions, but that

9:09

doesn't stop reporters from thrown out a few

9:15

actually of nine bodies there

9:17

at the scene. That is that is our belief.

9:19

Yes, back at the Campfire radio station, we were

9:22

in full swing with wall to wall coverage. Feel

9:24

absolutely horrible is and and

9:26

probably no fault of his own. I'm sure

9:28

he was being begged for that clearance,

9:31

but whoever gave him the clearance at the Burbank airport.

9:33

Absolutely we're hearing more about

9:35

who else was on board that plane,

9:38

and according to a Calabasas

9:41

city official, they have confirmed to NBC

9:44

that there was a teammate on her basketball

9:46

team also on board, and we're

9:48

hearing that Orange Coast College

9:51

baseball coach John Alto

9:53

Belly was also on board.

9:56

This has been confirmed by Orange Coast

9:58

College John Alto Bell. So

10:01

it seems maybe he and

10:03

and and a daughter. Maybe

10:05

that was a teammate of GS was

10:08

also on board that helicopter. Here's

10:10

Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his

10:13

emotional response to the losing

10:16

a friend of his, Kobe Bryant. It's very

10:18

difficult for me to put in words how

10:20

I feel about the loss of

10:22

Kobe Bryant as a young boy. News

10:26

conferences is starting here, so we'll play that

10:28

for you. Adam Silver has released

10:30

a statement saying that the NBA family

10:33

is devastated by the tragic passing

10:35

of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna

10:37

for twenty seasons. He says, Kobe showed

10:40

us what is possible when remarkable talent

10:42

blends with an absolute devotion to winning.

10:44

He was one of the most extraordinary players in the history

10:47

of our game, with accomplishments that are legendary.

10:49

Coming up, the NBA catches word

10:51

of the tragedy as the death and life

10:54

of Kobe Bryant continues. Yah

11:11

sixteen teams in the NBA were

11:13

scheduled to play that day, and they all paid

11:16

tribute in their own very unique ways,

11:18

including the game between the Raptors and the spur

11:20

They have decided that whoever wins the tip, and

11:22

in this case Toronto. They are going

11:24

to let the shot clock run out because

11:27

of the number twenty four to

11:30

honor Cope cry The

11:32

Clippers were also scheduled to play the coach

11:35

at the time, Doc Rivers, was stopped

11:37

by some reporters just before the games.

11:41

H M,

12:05

you know, I don't know, uh,

12:09

you know, Uh,

12:18

I just don't have a lot to say. The

12:22

news is just devastating

12:24

to everybody who knew him,

12:26

who knows him in a long time, and

12:29

uh,

12:33

you know, he just he meant He means a

12:35

lot to me obviously. Um,

12:38

you know, he was such a great opponent. Yeah,

12:42

this is this is a tough one. I don't uh, we

12:46

have to go play. Uh,

12:50

I mean, the news is just devastating for

12:52

for Vanessa and his and his family,

12:54

and um, there's just so

12:57

many people he touched, you know. Um,

13:01

and you know it's looking at my young

13:03

players and seeing how emotional they

13:06

are, uh

13:09

you know, and uh it just tells

13:11

you how far has reached us. So um,

13:15

and this is just shocking news for all of us.

13:18

And sorry, I don't have a lot to say.

13:20

I just can't have to go talk

13:22

to a team before a game

13:25

and tell him to play again.

13:30

We're talking exclusively with l A County

13:32

Sheriff alex Via Nueva as he looks back on

13:34

the day of the accident. I asked him why

13:36

it was important to have a second briefing that night,

13:38

especially since there was no new information.

13:40

Well, there's some things that are just straight

13:43

logistical practical that we needed. We

13:45

need to discourage people from going there because

13:47

they had flooded all the streets, The lookie

13:50

lows were out in force. We

13:52

had one fool who actually in the middle of the night

13:54

tried to you know, hike through

13:56

the brush to get to the crash site. So

13:58

we had to have twenty four hour security

14:01

on horseback. We had departs on horseback

14:03

and on a t V s patrolling

14:05

the perimeter. By now it's nightfall in the l

14:07

A County Sheriff and other officials have gathered

14:09

for a second briefing and press conference. Good evening,

14:11

everyone. Purpose

14:14

of of tonight's press up day is to give you an

14:16

idea of what's gonna be the next steps of this uh,

14:18

this process, this investigation is going to be and

14:21

everyone's role, as

14:23

you can imagine, this is gonna be very extensive process.

14:26

It's gonna take not just days, but weeks

14:28

for us to get to recover from this.

14:31

And as the other count of Shriffs Department,

14:33

we're working with our federal partners, which is NTSB

14:36

and the f a A in a system during

14:38

the course of this investigation, and

14:40

the f A is already unseen and

14:42

they've provided very invaluable assistance.

14:45

They've secured a five mile of flight

14:48

restriction for the area

14:50

of the crash site and also five thousand foot

14:53

ceiling over it, so that is a

14:56

great help in securing the crash site.

14:59

As you may already heard from the NTSP, they're

15:01

already in route to our location to

15:03

initiate the investigation. We

15:06

want to thank our partners in the Early County Fire Department

15:08

for their timely response putting

15:10

out the fire and secure in the

15:12

area. And right now it's

15:16

uh as you can imagine, it's all logistical

15:18

nightmare in a sense because the crash site itself

15:21

is not easily accessible. However, we're

15:23

now faced with I guess

15:26

well wishers and people morning who

15:28

have descended on the area, on the residential

15:31

community and even the crash site

15:33

itself, and we have to reiterate it is off

15:35

limits to everybody. Except the

15:37

first responders and investigators.

15:40

So we now have personnel deployed

15:42

to get people away from there, and

15:45

they cannot access

15:47

to crash site. It is in very rough terrain,

15:49

very dangerous even in daylight, much

15:51

less in the middle of the night, So we just

15:53

want to people stay away. The

15:56

location itself is in a residential community

15:58

or adjacent to residential community,

16:01

and there are no businesses, and

16:03

we want to have the roads free for first responders

16:06

and for investigators. If you do not

16:08

have an identification establishes

16:11

you as a local resident, you will not be permitted

16:13

access to the area,

16:15

and there are road closures in effect right now.

16:18

So now I want to turn it over to a to

16:21

UH. Dr Lucas, good

16:23

evening. My name is Dr Jonathan Lucas.

16:25

I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the County of Los

16:28

Angeles UM.

16:30

Today our department had multiple

16:32

members of our Special Operations Response

16:34

Team that we're on site.

16:37

Um are recovery

16:40

efforts began today, but

16:43

as the Sheriff UH mentioned,

16:48

given the terrain and the condition

16:50

of the site, UH we expect

16:52

that this will probably take at least

16:54

a couple, if not a few days to complete

16:57

the recovery Our priority

17:00

is completing the recovery as

17:02

quickly as possible, but but but safely,

17:06

UH and thoroughly and UM

17:10

and doing that to make sure our staff are, like I said,

17:12

are safe. UM.

17:15

Our next priority after recovery

17:17

is identification and

17:20

notification of the families,

17:23

all of all of which will do as soon

17:25

as we possibly can. I also

17:27

want to emphasize that we'll be doing our work thoroughly,

17:31

quickly, and with the utmost compassion.

17:33

So again, we really we offer

17:35

our condolences to the families at this point,

17:38

and I just want to reassure everybody we're

17:40

doing everything we can to confirm identifications

17:43

and give closure to the

17:45

families involved. Thank you. Coming

17:48

up. A sportscaster and longtime friend

17:50

of Kobe's is in shock as

17:53

the death and life of Kobe Bryant continues.

18:00

Y Vic

18:33

the Brick Jacobs is a fixture on l

18:35

A Radio. He's been a sportscaster for decades

18:38

and is a regular on kl A C A M.

18:40

During our wald Wall coverage on KFI,

18:43

we were able to get him to come on. It wasn't

18:45

easy, but Vic fought back tears

18:47

as he looked back on his relationship with Kobe.

18:50

This is such a living nightmare

18:54

for all of us, For

18:56

new Kobe, It's

19:00

touched our lives, a

19:03

transcendent spirit, a

19:07

profound essence.

19:10

I'm not just an insanely

19:12

great basketball player, but

19:15

one who, at forty years old,

19:17

was this beginning to blossom.

19:19

I think, Shannon, you were talking about that earlier

19:22

is so true. He had so much to

19:24

give, you know, he

19:26

gave all he could on the court.

19:29

Every possession he bowled

19:31

like it was his last possession of

19:33

his freaking life.

19:36

That's how he played the game. He

19:39

was taped up like a mummy by Gary VD

19:42

on hundreds of occasions,

19:44

and I'd see him in the lake, a locker

19:46

room. I'd see in the training room with

19:48

VD, and he was

19:50

in such pain. But he knew,

19:54

he knew people wanted to see him

19:56

and see his lust for hoop. And

19:59

he has such an incredible lust

20:01

and desire for winning. You

20:05

know. Thus, you know he evolved into the Mamba.

20:07

But I knew Colbe when he was seventeen,

20:11

twenty four years ago, when he

20:13

first came to town from Philadelphia rookie

20:16

on the Lakers. He was

20:18

going to play summer ball in Long Beach at

20:21

the pyramid. I called

20:23

this hotel room, and I said, Colby,

20:25

this is vic the brick looked to come and see you

20:27

and say hi, and the cities

20:30

are excited. And

20:32

he said, sure, come on down. They came

20:34

to his hotel. We're eating French

20:36

fries together in his room,

20:39

and he was iced up

20:41

to his hip. Even at seventeen.

20:44

He was preserving his body like like I had never

20:46

seen before. He had such he was so in

20:48

tune, you know, with with the

20:50

whole you know, mind, body and

20:52

soul of Hoop. But on

20:55

the court, unparalleled

20:58

love of the game, Harold Old

21:01

desire to win, unparalleled

21:05

love of the city of Los Angeles, of

21:08

the world. You know. He was the first to go to China

21:11

to open up that bridge of harmony through

21:14

hope. No no, no one

21:16

had the you know, the wisdom

21:18

and really the division of

21:20

Kobe Bryant. Everyone just saw him.

21:22

He was he was a hardass. So you can't

21:24

talk to this guy. But my my experience

21:27

with Kobe was one of a young poet at seventeen.

21:30

And when I first saw him at Long

21:32

Beach, I'll tell room, I said, I'm in the presence of a poet.

21:34

I knew I knew he was, you know, beyond

21:36

basketball. He was. He was so strong,

21:39

he was he had this iron will about

21:41

him, this indomitable spirit I knew would transcend

21:43

the game. And it has. I mean, he's

21:45

done so much for basketball.

21:48

But also you know when he retired

21:50

a few years ago and who could get his last

21:52

game when he dropped sixty on Utah, I mean, come

21:55

on, I can barely move and said

21:57

he was in pain. It was injured. He's still He

21:59

knew the fans were there for him. He wanted to give you one

22:01

last incredible memory. Indelible. It's

22:04

indelible. His whole career is indelible. I

22:06

was on the court with him his first big shot against

22:08

Phoenix, the playoff game,

22:10

and I was right behind him when

22:12

he gave his first primal scream at the Downtown

22:15

Hoopdo Joe. And I was right behind him in my poncho

22:17

and my purple and gold fur and right behind him,

22:19

you know, screaming, you were the one, you were the one. You

22:21

were the way he were the way, and Kobe Bryant is the

22:24

way. He's a gone among men.

22:26

It's a gone among men. We've all been, you

22:28

know, horrifically affected today.

22:31

Not just called me the basketball player. I called me the person. He

22:33

loved his four daughters and to have one have

22:36

she should go down with him as this is this, you know,

22:38

beyond a nightmare. I first heard it, you

22:41

know, via reports, you

22:43

know, the various you know media

22:47

giants K five of course

22:49

an turn K five T MZ.

22:52

And I just started crying

22:54

my eyes out and cried

22:57

and cried because

23:03

we all loved him. Some misunderstood,

23:07

you know, everyone thought he was this crazy,

23:09

crazy, hardass dude

23:11

who with no emotions and

23:15

basically that was a way to

23:17

motivate himself. But with my

23:19

with me, and I told you,

23:21

you know, since he was seventeen, I could

23:25

see, you know, his transcendence

23:27

as a man. He was such an

23:29

ancient soul in a seventeen year old

23:32

body. And not

23:34

not did he elevate the game of basketball,

23:36

you know and spread it, you know, the good

23:38

will you know, not just

23:40

a China, but but everywhere

23:42

you know, he's he used to speak in many

23:45

languages after the

23:47

game in this postgame interviews because of the international

23:49

you know, grew up in Italy, you know, with Joe and when

23:52

you know his father was Joe Bryant's Joe jelly

23:54

Bean Bryant was a wonderful

23:56

basketball player. And I, you know, I tenner

23:59

and BASKETBA player in Europe very early.

24:01

And you know called he grew up in in

24:03

uh in Italy, you know, watching the videotapes

24:06

of the NBA and getting

24:09

inspired, you know, ten tho miles

24:11

away and some crazy apartment

24:13

in Rome and just

24:15

basically building his psyche. But

24:18

he was always so in tune with the game and

24:21

so in tune with life. He

24:23

loved his he loved his daughter so much. While

24:25

crews were still working at the crash site

24:28

thirty miles southeast in downtown Los

24:30

Angeles, the annual Grammy Awards

24:32

were about to go live at Staples Center. Here

24:34

we are singer songwriter Alicia

24:37

Keys together on

24:39

music's biggest night, celebrating

24:43

the artist that do it best. But

24:47

to be honest with you, we're

24:50

all feeling crazy sadness

24:52

right now because

24:56

earlier today Los

24:59

Angeles, America and

25:01

the whole wide world

25:05

lost a hero. And

25:07

we're literally standing here heartbroken

25:12

in the house that

25:14

Kobe Bryant built. A

25:21

lot of people were scrambling behind the scenes at the Grammys

25:24

that night, including Alicia Keys. She

25:26

and the group boys two men were able to put

25:28

together at the very last second a

25:31

song to pay tribute to Kobe. The guitar

25:35

and mass lead all

25:40

wait the bed

25:44

Hi and

25:48

Not memo

25:56

to be coming

26:07

up in episode three. Our mission

26:09

is not to just determine what happened,

26:13

but why it happened and how it

26:15

happened to prevent a similar accident

26:17

from ever happening again.

26:20

The NTSB is on scene and takes over

26:23

the investigation, and still

26:25

to come the Sheriff versus TMZ.

26:30

The Death and Life of Kobe Bryant is

26:32

a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media,

26:35

Los Angeles or the I Heart Podcast

26:37

Network in Los Angeles. I'm

26:39

Steve Gregory.