The others killed were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter Alyssa Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach his daughter's basketball team and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Both California's senators have called for the FAA to mandate the devices in the wake of the tragedy. While the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended the system be mandatory for helicopters, the Federal Aviation Administration only requires it for air ambulances. The aircraft did not have a device called the Terrain Awareness and Warning System, which signals when an aircraft is in danger of hitting ground. A final report is not expected for months. The National Transportation Safety Board has not concluded what caused the crash on the outskirts of Los Angeles County but said there was no sign of mechanical failure in the Sikorsky S-76. The only drug in Bryant's system was methylphenidate, which is sold under the brand name Ritalin and used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy. The youngest girl, Capri Kobe, only 7 months old when her father died, is not mentioned. On the lower right arm were the names of three of his four daughters: Bianka Bella, Natalia Diamante and Gianna Maria-Onore, the daughter who died with him. The autopsy noted a tattoo of a crown on his right shoulder, above where his wife's name, Vanessa, was imprinted. The group, including one of his daughter's coaches, and two of her teammates, encountered thick fog in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The horrific crash that killed the 41-year-old retired Los Angeles Lakers star, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna - wearing the jersey she would have worn to play that morning, with the word "Mamba" on the front and her last name on the back - pilot Ara Zobayan and the others is considered accidental.īryant was headed from Orange County to his daughter's tournament at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks on the morning of January 26. "These injuries are rapidly if not instantly fatal," wrote Juan Carrillo, senior deputy medical examiner, in Bryant's report. * Alicia Keys leads Grammys tribute to Kobe Bryant * Bryant helicopter 'limo-esque' with strong safety record - ex-pilot * Distraught LeBron learned of Bryant's death while flying home * 'Absolutely heartbreaking': Basketball stars pay tribute to Kobe Bryant
* Teams pay homage to Kobe Bryant with shot clock violations * Kobe's praise for daughter Gianna on Jimmy Kimmel Live The graphic report made it clear: Bryant and the passengers almost certainly were dead in an instant due to blunt trauma. His remains had to be identified by his fingerprints. One of the most popular sports figures in Los Angeles and a celebrity around the globe, Bryant was broken beyond recognition when his body was found in the dirt outside the wreckage of the chopper.
The reports by the Los Angeles County coroner's office provide a clinical but unvarnished look at just how brutal the crash was, describing broken bones, dismembered body parts and a stench of fuel on what remained of clothing that burned. The pilot flying Kobe Bryant and seven others to a youth basketball tournament did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, and all nine sustained immediately fatal injuries when their helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in January, according to autopsies released Friday. Kobe Bryant and all eight others aboard died in the January 26 helicopter crash just outside Los Angeles.