Vanessa Bryant Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Helicopter Company Over Reckless Pilot

On the same day as the emotional memorial for the late Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, his widow Vanessa Bryant has issued out a wrongful death lawsuit against the helicopter company her family was flying in that day.

Bryant’s lawsuit says the plane never should have flown on January 26, when Kobe, Gianna and 7 others lost their lives in a tragic crash, TMZ reports. The lawsuit says Island Express wasn’t given the green light to fly under visual flight rules, and the conditions the day of the crash were not conducive for such flying. The day of the crash, the fog was extremely low and the pilot was in blinding conditions before the mishap.

The lawsuit calls out the now deceased pilot who was going 180 miles per hour in the heavy fog in a steep decline. The lawsuit accuses the pilot of not properly monitoring and assessing the weather prior to takeoff, not obtaining proper weather data prior to the flight, not aborting the flight when he knew of the cloudy condition, and not maintaining control of the helicopter in addition to failing to avoid “natural obstacles” in the flight path.

The lawsuit also calls out the pilot, Ara George Zobayan, for having been disciplined in 2015 for violating the visual flight rule minimums by flying into an airspace of reduced visibility.