LOS ANGELES (KNX) – A bronze statue of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was erected at the exact site in Calabasas where the helicopter carrying the two, as well the six other passengers, crashed two years ago.
The statue, designed by artist Dan Medina, depicts the NBA star with his arm around his daughter – also an athlete – as she holds a basketball. The statue sits on a hilltop, where it will remain temporarily, according to ABC 7 Los Angeles.
All nine of the crash victims’ names are all engraved on a plaque at the base of the statue. The list is accompanied by the quote, “Heroes come and go, but legends are forever,” according to TMZ Sports.
Medina told the outlet he used a wagon to haul the 160-pound statue up the hill, where he said it would remain until sundown.
On Jan. 26, 2020, Bryant, his daughter, Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, were returning from a youth basketball tournament in Ventura County when thick fog enveloped their helicopter before it slammed into a hillside killing everyone on board.
A report from the National Transportation Safety Board released in February 2021 said the pilot was at fault for the crash.
A trial by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, is asking for millions of dollars for emotional distress she said she suffered after learning Los Angeles County Sheriff’s employees had taken and circulated gruesome images of her deceased loved ones. L.A. County police argues that although the pictures were taken by its staff, Bryant was never harmed because the pictures were never made public.
Related
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM