0:08

The Los Angeles County Sheriff has already

0:10

had a couple of briefings with the media, and the

0:12

medical examiner has given his overview

0:14

of how the remains of those on board are being handled

0:20

by Now, a go team of eighteen specialists

0:23

and investigators from the National Transportation

0:25

Safety Board has arrived at the crash site

0:27

and will take over the scene and the investigation.

0:30

Our mission is not to just determine

0:32

what happened, but why it happened

0:35

and how it happened to prevent a

0:37

similar accident from ever happening

0:40

again. I'm Steve Gregory in Los Angeles

0:42

and this is the death and life of

0:45

Kobe Bryant. It's

0:48

January day

0:50

after the crash of the Sikorski s

0:53

B. MTSB Board member Jennifer

0:55

Hammondy is head of the team and briefs the

0:57

media. We established parties

0:59

to the investor gation, the Federal Aviation

1:01

Administration, Skorski, Pratt

1:04

and Whitney, Canada Island Express,

1:07

and the National Air Traffic Controllers

1:09

Association. We also established

1:11

investigative groups Operations

1:14

and Human Performance, air Traffic

1:16

Control, airworthiness power

1:18

Plants. We also have a weather investigator.

1:22

Our investigators began documenting

1:24

the scene, collecting evidence,

1:27

taking pictures, and we had drones

1:30

uh in the air to begin

1:33

mapping the wreckage.

1:37

There have been a lot of questions about the

1:39

FBI and why the FBI is here.

1:42

The NTSB has a memorandum

1:45

of understanding with the FBI

1:48

to help us collect evidence.

1:51

They are essentially a force multiplier

1:53

for the NTSB. There's no criminal

1:56

portion of this investigation. This

1:59

is our first full day. We're

2:01

continuing to gather information.

2:05

I do have some factual information

2:07

on the flight path. Initial

2:10

information shows that the helicopter was

2:13

flying under visual flight

2:15

Rules or VFR, from

2:17

John Wayne Airport to just southeast

2:19

of Burbank Airport. Around

2:22

Burbank, the pilot requested to transit

2:25

controlled airspace under

2:28

special visual flight Rules. Special

2:31

VFR is an air traffic

2:33

control authorization that

2:36

allows an aircraft to proceed

2:38

through controlled airspace at

2:40

less than the basic VFR

2:43

minimums of a thousand foot

2:45

ceiling and three miles visibility.

2:49

A TC advised the pilot there

2:51

was a delay due to traffic. While

2:54

awaiting approval, the helicopter circled

2:56

for twelve minutes until the special

2:59

vFire was proved by air traffic

3:01

control. The helicopter

3:04

transited the Burbank and

3:06

Van Nuys airspace at

3:08

four dred feet and proceeded

3:10

south then west. The

3:13

pilot requested flight following

3:16

to continue to Camario,

3:18

but Southern California tray con

3:21

advised the pilot that they were too low

3:23

for flight following. Approximately

3:26

four minutes later, the pilot

3:28

advised they were climbing to avoid a

3:31

cloud layer. When

3:33

a TC asked what the pilot planned

3:35

to do, there was no reply. Radar

3:38

data indicates the helicopter climbed

3:41

to feet and then

3:43

began a left descending turn. Last

3:45

radar contact was around am

3:49

and is consistent with the accident

3:51

location. I

3:53

do anticipate we will be

3:56

here about five days

3:58

unseen to collect perishable

4:00

evidence. We're going to continue

4:03

to document the scene. We

4:05

are not here to determine the

4:07

cause of the accident. We will not determine

4:10

that on scene. She answers questions

4:12

from the media. The question is should

4:15

the pilot have been flying in

4:17

that in the fog uh

4:21

at that time. I mean, that's part of our investigation.

4:23

We look at weather and we'll

4:25

have to determine that at some point. The

4:28

question is to describe the wreckage scene

4:30

and whether I had been to the

4:32

recage uh to the

4:34

scene. I did go to the scene for several

4:36

hours. There is a

4:40

impact area on one of

4:42

the hills, and

4:45

the piece of the tail is

4:47

down the hill on the left

4:50

side of the hill. The

4:52

fuselage is over on the other

4:54

side of of that hill, and

4:57

then the main rotor is

5:00

about a hundred yards beyond that. It

5:03

looks about The debris field is about

5:05

five hundreds of six

5:08

hundred. The question is was

5:10

did we recover a black box? There wasn't a black

5:12

box, and there isn't requirement to

5:15

have a black box on this question

5:17

is was there any chance for survival?

5:21

That's part of the investigation. I mean, it

5:23

was a pretty devastating accident

5:27

scene. The question is how

5:29

how confident are

5:31

we that will find a definitive cause

5:35

we do this all the time. Bryant's

5:40

wife, Vanessa, had requested a temporary

5:43

flight restriction or t f R from the

5:45

f a A, which closed off the air space

5:47

in a five mile radius with an altitude

5:49

of five thousand feet. Bryant said

5:52

she did this to protect the privacy of those on

5:54

board. Tuesday,

5:56

January, the NTSB

5:58

has spent a full day a gathering evidence from

6:01

the crash site and gives a status report. I

6:03

wanted to give you an update of

6:05

what we accomplished today. I

6:08

spent most of the day on the accident site.

6:10

A lot of our investigators were on scene

6:13

continuing to examine and document

6:15

the wreckage. We also looked

6:18

for the significant

6:20

components like actuators and

6:22

gearboxes to make sure that

6:24

they all arrived with the helicopter

6:27

on scene, and we were able

6:29

to verify that. We

6:32

also mentioned yesterday that

6:34

the pilot had an iPad

6:37

with four flight on it, so we were looking

6:39

for electronic devices as we always

6:41

do. We were able to recover

6:44

an iPad and a

6:46

cell phone. We do not

6:48

know if that's the pilots iPad,

6:51

so we're going to take those personal

6:53

electronic devices. We're going to send them

6:55

back to our lab at headquarters for

6:58

further analysis. Us We

7:02

also located maintenance records

7:05

in the wreckage. We

7:07

are not we can't discuss

7:10

we're not going to discuss the maintenance records

7:12

because we haven't looked at those. We found

7:15

them, we documented them, that will

7:17

become that will come later. We

7:19

found the airworthiness certificate,

7:22

the registration, the

7:24

company's operating manual weight

7:27

and balance sheets and everything

7:30

we would expect would be on the

7:32

aircraft. We

7:35

also worked with drones today

7:38

to help the airworthiness group

7:41

locate those significant components

7:44

and continue to document

7:46

the scene. And then we

7:49

duplicated part of the flight

7:51

path, so we flew part of the the

7:54

end part of the flight path with our drones

7:57

using using a d s B data.

8:03

Recovery operations occurred

8:05

on scene today. A recovery

8:08

crew was loading the wreckage

8:10

in large white

8:13

tarp bags which were

8:15

airlifted by helicopter from

8:17

the scene and loaded on a truck

8:20

and will be moved to a secure location.

8:25

The UH that has already

8:27

occurred. UH so the

8:29

that is on the truck and ready

8:31

to go. So we have turned

8:33

the site officially over to

8:36

local authorities. We are done

8:38

on on the site.

8:42

Some of our accident investigators

8:44

began interviews today. We

8:47

interview we're working on interviews with

8:49

air traffic Control, and

8:52

we had interviews with the operator. I don't

8:54

have any information to share with you at

8:56

this time about those interviews because those interviews

8:59

are ongoing and we haven't been able to connect.

9:02

They are working on setting up other

9:04

interviews for the next several days at

9:08

three PM, I held a family

9:11

briefing by a conference

9:13

call. We do that with every

9:16

accident investigation. Either we hold

9:18

a family briefing to

9:20

update them on the investigation, make sure

9:23

they're aware of information before we provide

9:25

it publicly, and

9:28

UM go through the process, the

9:30

NTSPS investigative process,

9:32

and what they can expect over the next several

9:34

weeks and months. I'm

9:37

not going to discuss the family briefing.

9:40

You're going to get asked if I get

9:42

questions about who was on the call, what

9:45

was discussed, I'm not going to answer that. Out

9:47

of respect for the families, I

9:51

am going to provide you some information for

9:53

some questions that were asked yesterday

9:55

and the day before and over the past

9:57

couple hours. With respect to

10:00

the pilot, I mentioned

10:02

that on the second class medical

10:05

certificate, which was dated July,

10:08

the pilot had two hundred hours

10:10

of flight time. Obviously that was July,

10:12

so the pilot has more flight time because

10:15

it's been some time since then. Out

10:18

of that, the pilot had

10:20

twelve hundred and fifty hours

10:23

of flight time on the S

10:25

seventy helicopter, so

10:29

fifty hours on the helicopters, so that's

10:31

a good amount of experience. He's

10:34

also been with a company for ten years. We

10:38

do know that the day before

10:40

the accident, he flew

10:42

from John Wayne Airport Airport to

10:45

Camaro and uh

10:48

the weather was clear. It was a

10:50

different flight path, more direct, and

10:53

occurred about an hour later than

10:55

the one on Sunday. I

10:57

was asked about the descent rate of the

11:00

helicopter. We

11:02

know that the helicopter was at when

11:05

it lost communications with

11:09

air traffic control. The

11:12

descent rate for the helicopter was

11:14

over two thousand ft a minute, so

11:18

we know that this was a high

11:20

energy impact crash

11:23

as the and the helicopter

11:26

was in a descending left bank. So

11:28

with that, I want to stay. This is the last

11:30

press conference that we're going to have. Los

11:32

Angeles County Sheriff alex Bia Nueva

11:34

also provides an update for the media, but

11:37

moments before he's about to speak, he gets

11:39

an update the ele Count of Corners office

11:41

releasing the identities of four

11:43

of the victims who perish

11:45

in this crash, and those

11:47

are as follows John

11:50

Alta, Belly, Sarah

11:53

Chester, Era

11:56

Zobayan, the pilot, and

11:58

Kobe Bryant. They

12:01

have finished our identification, the next

12:03

of can have been notified. In all four circumstances,

12:07

the Corners had removed all remains. They're

12:09

going through the identification process to conclude

12:12

with the other five victims of

12:14

the accident. The emergency

12:18

ordinance remains in effect, so it's a misdemeanor

12:20

crime to access the crash site, and just

12:22

for your own safety and common sense, it's a

12:24

hazmat site, so it needs to be clean

12:26

up. It will take probably five to seven days and finish

12:29

it. They have to remove everything by hand

12:31

because they can't access it with heavy vehicles.

12:33

Within the next few days, the l A County Medical

12:35

Examiner's Office would release the names of

12:37

the remaining five people who died on that

12:39

flight. Forty six

12:41

year old carry Out to Belly, thirty

12:44

eight year old Christina Mauser, fourteen

12:47

year old Alyssa Altera Belly, thirteen

12:49

year old Peyton Chester, and thirteen

12:52

year old Gianna Bryant. Coming

12:58

up the Ely County versus TMZ

13:02

and we learn more about the others who died in

13:04

the accident. As the death and life of Kobe

13:06

Bryant continues for

13:29

some the official release of the names of those

13:31

who died comes a little late between

13:34

the helicopters manifest friends and family

13:36

of the victims, The names of those on board the

13:38

flight had already been released through media

13:41

reports. The

13:43

official naming of the victims becomes a source

13:45

spot for l A County Sheriff alex Fia Noueva.

13:48

At the first press briefing following the crash,

13:50

he specifically addresses the naming of the

13:53

victims. We have a manifest that indications

13:55

that there was nine people on board the aircraft,

13:58

the pilot plus eight individual Uh.

14:01

There is white speculation

14:03

is whose identities are. However, it is being

14:05

entirely inappropriate right now to identify

14:08

anyone by name until the corner

14:10

has made the identification through their very

14:13

deliberative prophets, and they've made made

14:15

notifications and next of kin, and

14:17

it would be extremely disrespectful

14:19

to understand that your loved one of those

14:22

parents that you learn about it from TMZ. That

14:25

is just wholly inappropriate.

14:27

So we're not going to be going there. I had a chance

14:29

to ask the sheriff why he called

14:31

out TMZ by name. I got

14:34

that from Vanessa herself. She told me that

14:36

she found out from TMZ

14:39

that her husband was on the flight, and I thought that

14:41

is the most horrible thing possible that you could learn

14:43

the definitely a loved one through radio

14:46

or TV. It's like, wow, that's

14:49

that's I thought that

14:51

was just wildly inappropriate. I think that's

14:53

the very words I used. It's just

14:55

inappropriate. I think the

14:57

families need to know from

15:00

the authority, be it myself, be at the corner's

15:02

office or fire department. Once as confirmed,

15:04

okay, then report what you

15:06

ever want to, but that need to be the first

15:08

to announce something. They just didn't

15:11

get a rat's ass about the feelings of the families

15:13

involved, and that's that's what it really upset

15:15

me. The founder of TMZ, Harvey Levin,

15:17

was quick to clap back at both the sheriff

15:19

and others who criticized his coverage

15:22

and being the first to report the death of Kobe

15:24

Bryant. He tells the hosts of

15:26

the TV show the real exactly

15:29

what happened that morning. We got a

15:31

tip that this had happened,

15:33

and then we were

15:36

on the phone with with various people,

15:39

uh from Kobe's camp for an hour

15:41

before we posted the story. So

15:44

you know, all I can say is this that

15:47

you know, when somebody

15:50

of that magnitude dies

15:53

so tragically, this becomes

15:55

a worldwide, massive story.

15:58

And when you look at

16:00

the way these things come

16:03

down, I mean, when you think about it, um,

16:05

when there's a plane crash, um,

16:08

when you think about it, the media immediately

16:11

says, you know, flight so and so going

16:13

from Los Angeles to New York. You

16:15

know, and and they're basically

16:18

telling three families knowing

16:20

that their relatives were on the plane

16:22

because it's a news event, and

16:25

they're not waiting for you

16:27

know, the sheriff or whoever to come

16:29

out with all of you know, the notifications

16:32

or whatever, because they reported because it's a news

16:34

event. Autopsies

16:40

released by the l A County Medical Examiner

16:42

would show the pilot, RS A. Byan, had

16:44

no drugs or alcohol in his system.

16:47

Reports would also show that Kobe Bryant took a

16:49

prescription medication commonly given to those

16:51

who suffer from a d h D, and

16:53

his daughter Gianna used an inhaler most

16:55

typically used for asthma patients. Sadly,

16:57

the reports would also outlined just how

17:00

brutal the impact was. The

17:02

cause of death for all nine on board was

17:04

blunt force trauma coming

17:06

up the circumstances of the crash caused

17:09

a flurry of lawsuits as the death and life

17:11

of Kobe Bryant continues. On

17:29

the morning of January, nine

17:32

people died in that helicopter crash, but

17:34

most everyone only focused on one person, Kobe

17:37

Bryant, and as soon as it was confirmed

17:39

his daughter Gianna was also on board, the attention

17:41

shifted to father and daughter, but friends

17:43

and family of the other seven were equally saddened

17:46

with their loss. Among

17:48

those who were on that flight the Alta Bellies

17:51

John, his wife Carrie, and their daughter, Alyssa.

17:53

Alyssa was a member of the Mambas and Gianna's

17:55

teammate. John was best known as the

17:57

baseball coach at Orange Coast College and

18:00

host of Masa, California, and was entering his

18:02

twenty eight year as the head coach. John

18:04

played one season in the minors before getting into

18:06

coaching. Seated nearby were

18:08

Sarah and Peyton Chester. Peyton was also

18:11

Gianna's teammate and had hoped to play ball in

18:13

high school. In college, her mother, Sarah,

18:15

was involved in education. She was a member of the

18:17

board of trustees for the St. Margaret Private School

18:20

and had been a star soccer player. She

18:22

had also worked at the Tustin Memorial Academy

18:25

before leaving to spend more time with her family.

18:27

Christina Mauser was the assistant coach of the

18:29

Mamba's. Her daughter Penny, played for the lower

18:32

division of the Mamba's and was supposed to be on the

18:34

flight that morning. Coincidentally,

18:36

Mauser's husband, Matt, composed music

18:38

for Kobe's podcast The Punies. He

18:40

has since started the Christina Mauser Foundation,

18:43

which supports single mothers, women

18:45

and girls in sports through scholarships

18:47

in financial aid. Pilot

18:49

are Zabayan was a certified flight instructor

18:52

and in one became a private pilot

18:54

you know seven. He received his commercial pilots

18:57

license and had been flying for Kobe Bryant for about

18:59

two years. Zabaian had more

19:01

than two hundred hours of flight time

19:04

and was known as Big Z. A

19:07

byproduct of the accident would be lawsuits,

19:09

and there were plenty of them. Bryant's wife,

19:11

Vanessa, filed a lawsuit against the helicopter

19:14

company and the pilot's estate for wrongful

19:16

death. The other families would soon follow.

19:18

After the pilot's family received a copy of

19:20

the lawsuits, relatives responded

19:22

by saying the passengers aboard that flight knew

19:25

the risks when they boarded that morning, and

19:27

those same passengers could have played a role in the

19:29

crash. This also led to the estate

19:32

of the pilot to file a lawsuit against

19:34

two of the air traffic controllers, claiming

19:37

they had a role in the demise of

19:39

the flight. One

19:46

of the more interesting lawsuits was also filed

19:48

by Vanessa Bryant against the Los Angeles

19:50

County Sheriff's Department. Ali count of Sheriff's

19:52

deputies who responded to the crash site or

19:54

accused of taking graphic photos

19:56

and then sharing the trainey deputy at

19:58

the Laws Hills station and was allegedly

20:01

flashing gruesome accident photos at

20:03

a bar. That trainee and seven other

20:05

deputies were immediately ordered to delete

20:08

the picture of Alex Vienueva is apologizing

20:10

says he has ordered an internal investigation.

20:13

Sheriff Alex vien Aueva said he was blindsided

20:15

by the actions of his deputies. Punched to the

20:17

gut, you know, it's it

20:20

was such a hard scene. Dealing with

20:22

the family's firsthand and reassuring

20:25

them we're doing everything possible, and

20:27

then to find out, you know, days later

20:29

that this happened. It's just a

20:31

sense of betrayal. I asked the sheriff about

20:33

the status of the lawsuit because it was pending litigation

20:36

on the matter. You know, I can't comment on it, but

20:38

once the litigation is over, I'll be

20:40

more unhappy to answer those questions. We did take

20:43

appropriate, uh administrative

20:45

action based on the investigation we did, and

20:48

we'll leave it that. But as a product

20:51

of this entire incident, we

20:53

saw a need. Our policy didn't really

20:55

cover something like this. Our

20:58

policies on the department were design and for when

21:00

we have a celebrity and custody like

21:02

a mel Gibson, Paris Hilton, and

21:05

that's what our policy was really air tight about.

21:07

But an accident on public lands that's

21:10

not a criminal matter. We didn't

21:12

really have something to cover that. So

21:15

as a result of that, there are some shortcomings

21:18

and limitations and law. So I sponsored

21:20

assembly built and

21:23

it was signed in the law by the governor last year,

21:25

I believe in October. And this law

21:27

makes it a misdemeanor crime to take

21:31

photos or disseminate photos

21:33

from an accident scene of the deceased

21:35

unless it has a lawful purpose and

21:38

that really gave us two things. One, it's

21:41

a it turns factor. So

21:43

because you know throughout history, law

21:45

enforcement, fire people they

21:48

have what they called death books, you know, homicide

21:50

investor. They take their their work

21:52

home with them

21:54

and uh, what we're not we want

21:57

to do is discourage that practice. And now

21:59

with the digital age, it's more complicated.

22:02

So with this law, then we

22:04

want we're going to discourage that. We penalize

22:06

people who engage in the act too, but we can also

22:09

seize things which we couldn't see before

22:12

because now we have a crime that we can write

22:14

a search warrant on and be able to seize

22:16

things, and that's a very important So these are two

22:19

huge steps forward for

22:21

public safety here in California. The

22:23

taking of pictures at that crash site would also

22:25

force the demotion of a captain with the Los

22:27

Angeles County Fire Department. That captain

22:30

is suing the county for retaliation and

22:32

civil rights violations coming

22:34

up in episode four. I don't think any

22:37

of us could have

22:39

imagined this. A city says goodbye

22:42

to one of its own and still

22:44

to come. People around the world pay

22:46

their respects in very unique ways. The

22:51

death and life of Kobe Bryant is a production

22:53

of KFI news at i Heeart Media, Los

22:55

Angeles for the I Heart podcast network.