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Bryant Helicopter Crash Family Members Sue Flight Company

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Family members of four passengers killed in a helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant and his daughter have joined the NBA star's widow in filing wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the aircraft.

The suits on behalf of three members of one family, and a woman who helped coach Bryant's 13-year-old daughter in basketball, were filed electronically Sunday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

 

 

BASKET-NBA-BRYANT-MEMORIAL
Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa Bryant arrives to speak during the "Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant" service at Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles on February 24, 2020. - Kobe Bryant, 41, and 13-year-old Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in the rugged hills west of Los Angeles on January 26. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

 

 

The pair of lawsuits comes about two months after Bryant's widow, Vanessa, the mother of Gianna, also sued Island Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the Sikorsky, and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp.

A person who answered the phone at Island Express Helicopters declined to comment and an email from The Associated Press requesting comment was not immediately returned.

Unlike Vanessa Bryant's lengthy lawsuit, the new identical 7-page cases do not name the dead pilot, Ara Zobayan, or his representative, as a defendant. All the suits allege that the two companies were careless and negligent.

One suit was filed by two surviving children of Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli and his wife Keri. Their daughter Alyssa played basketball with Gianna. Another suit was filed by the husband and three children of Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach the girls' basketball team.

 

 

Kobe Bryant Killed In Helicopter Crash In Calabasas Hills
CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 27: Emergency personnel work at the helicopter crash site that claimed the life of former NBA great Kobe Bryant on January 27, 2020 in Calabasas, California. Bryant, 41, his daughter Gianna, 13, and seven others perished in the accident yesterday. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)

 

 

The group was heading to a basketball tournament Jan. 26 when the chopper crashed in thick fog northwest of Los Angeles.

An initial National Transportation Safety Board report said there were no signs of engine failure from the wreckage recovered. Zobayan had nearly navigated the helicopter out of blinding clouds when the aircraft suddenly turned and plunged into the mountainside.

Vanessa Bryant, who filed the suit the same day as her husband's large public memorial service in February, alleged that Zobayan was careless and negligent to fly in the fog and should have aborted the flight.

Also killed in the crash were Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, who was another of Gianna's teammates.

 

© 2020 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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