Kobe Bryant and other passengers were at fault for the fatal chopper crash: pilot's rep

Kobe Bryant, the late basketball legend, has been blamed along with the rest of the deceased passengers for the fatal chopper crash. 

The chopper’s pilot, Ara Zobayan’s brother as well as representative Berge Zobayan, has claimed in new court documents that the athlete, his daughter and the six other passengers were at fault for the crash.

Berge had been responding to Bryant’s widow Vanessa’s wrongful death lawsuit filed by her on February 24.

The court documents obtained by HollywoodLife claim, “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.”

Apart from that, Berge is also appealing for a jury trial while listing the deceased NBA player’s three surviving daughters - Natalie, 17, Bianka, three and 10-month old Capri - as plaintiffs.

Bryant’s widow had filed the wrongful death suit in February against Island Express – the helicopter company – as well as the pilot.

She claimed to be “seeking compensatory and punitive damages stemming from a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on or about January 26, 2020, which resulted in the deaths of Kobe Bryant and GB, minor.”

On January 26, the father-daughter were travelling with seven others to Thousand Oaks, CA for a youth basketball game at Bryant’s Mamba Academy when the chopper crashed into a mountain at 10:00am and was set ablaze, killing all passengers.