The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner has released autopsy reports for Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant.
Kobe and Gianna tragically died in a helicopter crash on January 26, which also claimed the lives of Payton Chester, 13, Sarah Chester, 46, Alyssa Altobelli, 14, Keri Altobelli, 46, John Altobelli, 56, Christina Mauser, 38, and the helicopter’s pilot Ara Zobayan, 50.
The group were on their way to a basketball game at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks when the helicopter crashed in the Calabasas area of California.
The autopsy reports state: “On Jan. 28, the cause of death for all nine decedents was certified as blunt trauma. The manner of death was certified as accident.”
The pilot’s body was also tested for substances including “benzodiazepines, cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, marijuana, opioids, phencyclidine, and amphetamines.”
However, testing “did not detect the presence of alcohol or drugs of abuse.”
The news comes after Kobe’s wife Vanessa filed a wrongful death lawsuit against helicopter company Island Express back in February.
According to TMZ, Vanessa believes the aircraft should have never been placed in danger – and the pilot was flying “recklessly.”
In the lawsuit, Vanessa alleges the helicopter company were only allowed to fly under certain visual flight rules.
It is claimed that the foggy conditions in the area on the day of the crash would break such regulations, and that the flight should have been grounded.
The lawsuit also claims that the helicopter was flying at 180mph in the heavy fog, and in a steep decline.
Lawyers representing Vanessa claimed that the pilot, Ara George Zobayan, was previously disciplined in 2015 for breaking rules on the visual flight minimum requirements, as he flew into an airspace of limited visibility.
Kobe and Vanessa married in 2001, when she was just 18 and he was 22, and the couple shared four daughters together: 17-year-old Natalia, 13-year-old Gianna, 3-year-old Bianka and 11-month-old Capri.
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