Rep For Kobe's Helicopter Crash Pilot Is Blaming The Accident On Passengers

Seriously?! A Rep For Kobe Bryant’s Helicopter Crash Pilot Is Blaming The Accident On The Passengers

Source: Christopher Polk / Getty

The news surrounding the helicopter crash that took the life of Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and 7 others earlier this year never gets any less devastating–and now, new details surrounding a response to Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit are making things even more egregious.

According to reports from TMZ, a representative of the pilot who was flying the helicopter is now claiming that the people on board were responsible for the fatal crash. The rep–a relative of pilot Ara George Zobayan, who also died in the crash–answered Vanessa’s lawsuit against him and the helicopter company, Island Express, saying the following:

“Any injuries or damages to plaintiffs and/or their decedent were directly caused in full or in part by the negligence or fault of plaintiffs and/or their decedent, including their knowing and voluntary encounter with the risks involved, and that this negligence was a substantial factor in causing their purported damages, for which this answering defendant bears no responsibility.”

Obviously, the passengers somehow being responsible for what definitely seems like pilot error is shocking to hear. Reports immediately following the crash revealed that the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies grounded their fleet the morning of the crash due to fog and poor visibility. Zobayan had to circle around the Griffith Park area for 15 minutes before being cleared to fly to the Mamba Academy up north and was going 184 MPH in blinding fog when he crashed into a hill, killing everyone on board.

This new response from the pilot’s rep doesn’t address how the passengers might have been negligent or assumed a risk.

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