Vanessa Bryant Leaves Courtroom in Tears During Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash Trial

Vanessa Bryant exited the courtroom during the second day of her trial against Los Angeles County, while a witness testified that a deputy trainee from the department shared photos from the helicopter crash that killed her daughter Gianna, and her husband, Kobe Bryant, according to PEOPLE. It was reported that Vanessa Bryant, 40, began crying during the testimony before exiting the courtroom and not returning for the day. 

According to USA Today, multiple witnesses took the stand on Thursday, including former bartender Victor Gutierrez who said the deputy trainee, named Joey Cruz, shared the photos with him. Gutierrez was asked by Bryant's attorney, Craig Jennings Lavoie, if he saw a photo that showed Bryant. He replied "yes" before being asked if there were a girl in any of the photos. 

"They were just parts," Gutierrez said. "I don't know if they were men or women." Bryant began to cry and then left the courtroom. Bryant is joined in the lawsuit she filed last year with Chris Chester, who lost his wife and daughter in the same crash on Jan. 26, 2020. They were seated in front of the jury who will determine if their privacy rights were violated by the county's conduct despite the county saying the photos were deleted and never posted online. 

Gutierrez is taking some heat for his reaction after seeing the photos. The jury was shown surveillance video clips from the bar that shows Curz and Gutierrez looking at Cruz's phone. It shows Gutierrez reacting with laughter while also showing him approaching other patrons at the restaurant making hand gestures to his throat, head and torso. When asked about the video, Gutierrez said he was not laughing at the photos. 

 "You gotta be psycho to do that," he said, adding that the laughter may have been inaction to something else he saw on the photo after looking at the photos. Following Gutierrez's testimony, a patron, Ralph Mendez Jr., took the stand. Mendez was the one who filed a complaint with the sheriff's department after Gutierrez told the people at his table about the photos.   

"I was in disbelief of everything I heard," Mendez said who filed the complaint that night on the sheriff's website. Cruz is set to testify next week, and the trial could last as long as two weeks.