Speaker 1: Sunday morning, January our Zabayan was piloting a private helicopter
Speaker 1: with Kobe Bryant, Bryant's daughter and their friends to a
Speaker 1: basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, California. Along the way, he's
Speaker 1: a buying, encountered fog and was in constant contact with
Speaker 1: air traffic controllers. Everything seemed normal until to echo ACTRA
Speaker 1: you're still at level for following radio silence two Echo actrascount.
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Gregory in Los Angeles and this is the
Speaker 1: death and life of Kobe Bryant. Helicopter crashed into a mountain.
Speaker 1: We heard it and now I'm looking at the flames
Speaker 1: Malibu Canyon and Agora Road on the Ari Juan Supermarket.
Speaker 1: We can see it. I'm at four two three five
Speaker 1: Lost Virgins Road. I just towed a helicopter door re
Speaker 1: me approximately from Loss Hills Road at went over my head.
Speaker 1: It's quick and clouds and then I just heard a
Speaker 1: pop and it immediately stopped. Yes, that was just clarifying
Speaker 1: where that plane went down. It's right behind the loss
Speaker 1: Or Metropolitan Water District, Los Virginus Metropolitan Water District, laid
Speaker 1: behind the building. The flames have gone out. I can
Speaker 1: just see smoked down barely anything last Virginism Mahad Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: yeah it's not it's not maholl And. It's too far south,
Speaker 1: So what's a better locations. I can tell my units
Speaker 1: behind the Corporate Water District building about a quarter of
Speaker 1: a mile up in the hills. Okay, I can see
Speaker 1: the flames still. By now, fire and rescue crews have
Speaker 1: arrived on scene and some actually had to be airlifted
Speaker 1: to the crash site. Captain Tony and Brenda was a
Speaker 1: public information officer with the Los Angeles County Fire Department
Speaker 1: and met reporters down at the bottom of the hill
Speaker 1: who had been sent there to the scene, not knowing
Speaker 1: at the time who was on board. Still early on
Speaker 1: in this incident, we received a call just before ten
Speaker 1: am this morning l a County Fire dispatch of an
Speaker 1: aircraft down here in uh the Malibu area, right off
Speaker 1: the Lost Virgins essentially Calabasas, right off the Lost Virgines
Speaker 1: Road here and apparently some folks were out here mountain
Speaker 1: bike in this morning and saw an aircraft in distress
Speaker 1: that went down into the hillside. Um there. This was
Speaker 1: a helicopter it's been confirmed that it was in S
Speaker 1: seventy six so Korsky helicopter and unfortunately there were no survivors.
Speaker 1: Um Right now, we're in the very early phase of this.
Speaker 1: We still have some fire activity on the hill, so
Speaker 1: La County Fire Department units are are doing a progressive
Speaker 1: hoseley right now to get water up. The aircraft is
Speaker 1: down pretty far from the old so we're having to
Speaker 1: put several hundred feet of hose in to get up
Speaker 1: there to cool down the scene. And right now we're
Speaker 1: waiting for the arrival and TSB investigators. There's not much
Speaker 1: more to add right now. We're still in the very
Speaker 1: early phase of this. We just know that it's multiple
Speaker 1: fatalities and there were no survivors. Los Angeles County Sheriff
Speaker 1: Alex v In a WAVA remembers getting the call. I
Speaker 1: got a phone call from a EID. I was in
Speaker 1: uh I believe uptown wire and he said, hey, there's
Speaker 1: been a helicopter crash in in the Lost Hills area, Calabasas,
Speaker 1: which is not unusual and of itself, because it happens
Speaker 1: every few months. There's always a crash with a fatality too.
Speaker 1: He said, no this is I got a lot more
Speaker 1: of his nine and one of them maybe Kobe every
Speaker 1: calibrator right there, realizing, oh boy, so made a B
Speaker 1: line home, got changed out and we made a bee
Speaker 1: line over to Lost Hills station. Knowing what that entailed,
Speaker 1: the onslaught of the media, and of course as as
Speaker 1: we're driving over there, we're asking all the impertinent questions.
Speaker 1: Make sure that all the operational things that happened. They
Speaker 1: set up a perimeter. Uh, they got a containment are
Speaker 1: set up. They have people that are assisting with actually
Speaker 1: going to the site to see if there are any
Speaker 1: survivors and to render aid because we typically we're going
Speaker 1: to get there before fired us on almost every scene.
Speaker 1: And uh then fire. It was so remote that fire
Speaker 1: had to be flown in to access it. I think
Speaker 1: it took our guys almost forty five minutes to hack
Speaker 1: their way to the point of it because there was
Speaker 1: no clear trail that they knew of at the time
Speaker 1: because they're going on visual, so they huffed it on
Speaker 1: foot to get there. For those involved, there was one
Speaker 1: of those events that they were never gonna forget. I
Speaker 1: was in the newsroom that morning. I was filling in
Speaker 1: as an anchor for a coworker, and as I was
Speaker 1: writing my newscast, I noticed an alert pop up on
Speaker 1: our news wire service, Kobe Bryant dyings in helicopter crash.
Speaker 1: I paused for a moment to let that sink in.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a hoax. I went down the
Speaker 1: hall to our sports affili to ask their staff, but
Speaker 1: they hadn't heard anything yet. I decided to call a
Speaker 1: source with the l A County Sheriff's Department, who actually
Speaker 1: confirmed it was Kobe. And when I saw the alert
Speaker 1: pop up again, it also added the source of the
Speaker 1: information to TMZ Sports and we'll explore that angle in
Speaker 1: a future episode. It was time to break into our
Speaker 1: regular programming kf I am sixty Breaking News. I'm Steve
Speaker 1: Gregory in the KFI news center. This is breaking news
Speaker 1: coming from the KMFI news room. We are being told
Speaker 1: that Lakers star Kobe Bryant has been killed in a
Speaker 1: helicopter crash in Calabasas. There was a helicopter crash early
Speaker 1: this morning around am. The only County Sheriff's Department says
Speaker 1: the helicopter is a Sikorski and it was registered to
Speaker 1: the f A A as a private helicopter to Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1: We're told that others on board were also killed, not
Speaker 1: including Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's wife. Again from the KFI
Speaker 1: new Center, we're just being told moments ago it's been
Speaker 1: confirmed that Basketball let and Kobe Bryant has died in
Speaker 1: a helicopter crash. We'll have more at the top of
Speaker 1: the hour on kf I Am six forty. More stimulating talk. Now,
Speaker 1: back to more stimulating talk on kf I Am six.
Speaker 1: Behind the scenes, I'm calling my news director and program director,
Speaker 1: and after a brief discussion, it was decided our station
Speaker 1: would go into what we call wall to all coverage.
Speaker 1: That's when we blow out commercials and bringing our talk
Speaker 1: show host to actually anchor live coverage. The other story
Speaker 1: we've been focused on that day was about a strange
Speaker 1: flu like virus that had been discovered in Wuhan, China,
Speaker 1: and whether or not it was a danger to southern California.
Speaker 1: I did have an opportunity to sit down exclusively with
Speaker 1: Eli County Sheriff v and Wave to ask him a
Speaker 1: lot of questions about that day. As he looks back,
Speaker 1: one of them was when he thought it was time
Speaker 1: to talk with the media and why the crash had occurred.
Speaker 1: We had a potential up to nine victims that we
Speaker 1: could not confirm the identity of any individual victim, and
Speaker 1: so everyone else ran with a story that was COVID
Speaker 1: because somebody got ahold. I think through TMZ that they
Speaker 1: already put together. They had the manifest of the flight
Speaker 1: and they had all the names, but we weren't going
Speaker 1: to confirm anyone until we got that from the corner.
Speaker 1: So within a few hours of the accident, the sheriff
Speaker 1: and Elly County's fire chief had their first press briefing
Speaker 1: in front of the Sheriff's departments. Lost Hills Substation in Calabasas.
Speaker 1: Personnel from Las Hils Sheriff's states and responded to the
Speaker 1: scene of the crash site and assisted the fire department,
Speaker 1: and we've established a containment area. And now our Aero
Speaker 1: Bureau has a handle on traffic aircraft accidents. However, when
Speaker 1: there's a fatality then it switches to the National Transportation
Speaker 1: Safety Bureau the NTS, and the Federal Aviation Administration the
Speaker 1: f A. A f A is already unseen and assisting.
Speaker 1: We're waiting the rival of the Corners Office to assist
Speaker 1: in the recovery of the remains. As the chief indicated
Speaker 1: there were no survivors. We have a manifest that indicates
Speaker 1: that there was nine people on board the aircraft, the
Speaker 1: pilot plus eight individuals. Uh, there is wine speculation and
Speaker 1: whose identities are. However, it is being entirely inappropriate right
Speaker 1: now to identify anyone by name until the Corner has
Speaker 1: made the identification through their very deliberative profits and they
Speaker 1: made notifications and next of kin, and it would be
Speaker 1: extremely disrespectful to understand that your loved one of those
Speaker 1: parents that you learn about it from TMZ. That is
Speaker 1: just wholly inappropriate. So we're not going to be going there,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna wait till the Corner does their job,
Speaker 1: and we're assisting the families of those who believe there
Speaker 1: have been impacted. And it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 1: tough process, and our hope goes out to all of
Speaker 1: the members they were on board, all the family of
Speaker 1: everyone who was on board this aircraft, and uh, God
Speaker 1: bless their souls. So at this point in time, we
Speaker 1: have nothing that we can add until the Corner does
Speaker 1: her job. And we'll be making those notifications. When we
Speaker 1: have the information and we know the next of kin
Speaker 1: have been notified, then we can release the information publicly
Speaker 1: that you'll be notified in subsequent announcement. This was only
Speaker 1: supposed to be a briefing. Neither the chief nor the
Speaker 1: sheriff would answer questions, but that doesn't stop reporters from
Speaker 1: thrown out a few actually of nine bodies there at
Speaker 1: the scene. That is that is our belief. Yes, back
Speaker 1: at the Campfire radio station, we were in full swing
Speaker 1: with wall to wall coverage. Feel absolutely horrible is and
Speaker 1: and probably no fault of his own. I'm sure he
Speaker 1: was being begged for that clearance, but whoever gave him
Speaker 1: the clearance at the Burbank airport. Absolutely we're hearing more
Speaker 1: about who else was on board that plane, and according
Speaker 1: to a Calabasas city official, they have confirmed to NBC
Speaker 1: that there was a teammate on her basketball team also
Speaker 1: on board, and we're hearing that Orange Coast College baseball
Speaker 1: coach John Alto Belly was also on board. This has
Speaker 1: been confirmed by Orange Coast College John Alto Bell. So
Speaker 1: it seems maybe he and and and a daughter. Maybe
Speaker 1: that was a teammate of GS was also on board
Speaker 1: that helicopter. Here's Kareem Abdul Jabbar and his emotional response
Speaker 1: to the losing a friend of his, Kobe Bryant. It's
Speaker 1: very difficult for me to put in words how I
Speaker 1: feel about the loss of Kobe Bryant as a young boy.
Speaker 1: News conferences is starting here, so we'll play that for you.
Speaker 1: Adam Silver has released a statement saying that the NBA
Speaker 1: family is devastated by the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: and his daughter Gianna for twenty seasons. He says, Kobe
Speaker 1: showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with
Speaker 1: an absolute devotion to winning. He was one of the
Speaker 1: most extraordinary players in the history of our game, with
Speaker 1: accomplishments that are legendary. Coming up, the NBA catches word
Speaker 1: of the tragedy as the death and life of Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant continues. Yah sixteen teams in the NBA were scheduled
Speaker 1: to play that day, and they all paid tribute in
Speaker 1: their own very unique ways, including the game between the
Speaker 1: Raptors and the spur They have decided that whoever wins
Speaker 1: the tip, and in this case Toronto. They are going
Speaker 1: to let the shot clock run out because of the
Speaker 1: number twenty four to honor Cope cry The Clippers were
Speaker 1: also scheduled to play the coach at the time, Doc Rivers,
Speaker 1: was stopped by some reporters just before the games. H M,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, uh, you know, Uh, I
Speaker 1: just don't have a lot to say. The news is
Speaker 1: just devastating to everybody who knew him, who knows him
Speaker 1: in a long time, and uh, you know, he just
Speaker 1: he meant He means a lot to me obviously. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he was such a great opponent. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is this is a tough one. I don't uh, we
Speaker 1: have to go play. Uh, I mean, the news is
Speaker 1: just devastating for for Vanessa and his and his family,
Speaker 1: and um, there's just so many people he touched, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know it's looking at my young players and
Speaker 1: seeing how emotional they are, uh you know, and uh
Speaker 1: it just tells you how far has reached us. So um,
Speaker 1: and this is just shocking news for all of us.
Speaker 1: And sorry, I don't have a lot to say. I
Speaker 1: just can't have to go talk to a team before
Speaker 1: a game and tell him to play again. We're talking
Speaker 1: exclusively with l A County Sheriff alex Via Nueva as
Speaker 1: he looks back on the day of the accident. I
Speaker 1: asked him why it was important to have a second
Speaker 1: briefing that night, especially since there was no new information. Well,
Speaker 1: there's some things that are just straight logistical practical that
Speaker 1: we needed. We need to discourage people from going there
Speaker 1: because they had flooded all the streets, The lookie lows
Speaker 1: were out in force. We had one fool who actually
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night tried to you know,
Speaker 1: hike through the brush to get to the crash site.
Speaker 1: So we had to have twenty four hour security on horseback.
Speaker 1: We had departs on horseback and on a t V
Speaker 1: s patrolling the perimeter. By now it's nightfall in the
Speaker 1: l A County Sheriff and other officials have gathered for
Speaker 1: a second briefing and press conference. Good evening, everyone. Purpose
Speaker 1: of of tonight's press up day is to give you
Speaker 1: an idea of what's gonna be the next steps of
Speaker 1: this uh, this process, this investigation is going to be
Speaker 1: and everyone's role, as you can imagine, this is gonna
Speaker 1: be very extensive process. It's gonna take not just days,
Speaker 1: but weeks for us to get to recover from this.
Speaker 1: And as the other count of Shriffs Department, we're working
Speaker 1: with our federal partners, which is NTSB and the f
Speaker 1: a A in a system during the course of this investigation,
Speaker 1: and the f A is already unseen and they've provided
Speaker 1: very invaluable assistance. They've secured a five mile of flight
Speaker 1: restriction for the area of the crash site and also
Speaker 1: five thousand foot ceiling over it, so that is a
Speaker 1: great help in securing the crash site. As you may
Speaker 1: already heard from the NTSP, they're already in route to
Speaker 1: our location to initiate the investigation. We want to thank
Speaker 1: our partners in the Early County Fire Department for their
Speaker 1: timely response putting out the fire and secure in the area.
Speaker 1: And right now it's uh as you can imagine, it's
Speaker 1: all logistical nightmare in a sense because the crash site
Speaker 1: itself is not easily accessible. However, we're now faced with
Speaker 1: I guess well wishers and people morning who have descended
Speaker 1: on the area, on the residential community and even the
Speaker 1: crash site itself, and we have to reiterate it is
Speaker 1: off limits to everybody. Except the first responders and investigators.
Speaker 1: So we now have personnel deployed to get people away
Speaker 1: from there, and they cannot access to crash site. It
Speaker 1: is in very rough terrain, very dangerous even in daylight,
Speaker 1: much less in the middle of the night, So we
Speaker 1: just want to people stay away. The location itself is
Speaker 1: in a residential community or adjacent to residential community, and
Speaker 1: there are no businesses, and we want to have the
Speaker 1: roads free for first responders and for investigators. If you
Speaker 1: do not have an identification establishes you as a local resident,
Speaker 1: you will not be permitted access to the area, and
Speaker 1: there are road closures in effect right now. So now
Speaker 1: I want to turn it over to a to UH.
Speaker 1: Dr Lucas, good evening. My name is Dr Jonathan Lucas.
Speaker 1: I'm the Chief Medical Examiner for the County of Los
Speaker 1: Angeles UM. Today our department had multiple members of our
Speaker 1: Special Operations Response Team that we're on site. Um are
Speaker 1: recovery efforts began today, but as the Sheriff UH mentioned,
Speaker 1: given the terrain and the condition of the site, UH
Speaker 1: we expect that this will probably take at least a couple,
Speaker 1: if not a few days to complete the recovery Our
Speaker 1: priority is completing the recovery as quickly as possible, but
Speaker 1: but but safely, UH and thoroughly and UM and doing
Speaker 1: that to make sure our staff are, like I said,
Speaker 1: are safe. UM. Our next priority after recovery is identification
Speaker 1: and notification of the families, all of all of which
Speaker 1: will do as soon as we possibly can. I also
Speaker 1: want to emphasize that we'll be doing our work thoroughly, quickly,
Speaker 1: and with the utmost compassion. So again, we really we
Speaker 1: offer our condolences to the families at this point, and
Speaker 1: I just want to reassure everybody we're doing everything we
Speaker 1: can to confirm identifications and give closure to the families involved.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Coming up. A sportscaster and longtime friend of
Speaker 1: Kobe's is in shock as the death and life of
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant continues. Y Vic the Brick Jacobs is a
Speaker 1: fixture on l A Radio. He's been a sportscaster for
Speaker 1: decades and is a regular on kl A C A M.
Speaker 1: During our wald Wall coverage on KFI, we were able
Speaker 1: to get him to come on. It wasn't easy, but
Speaker 1: Vic fought back tears as he looked back on his
Speaker 1: relationship with Kobe. This is such a living nightmare for
Speaker 1: all of us, For new Kobe, It's touched our lives,
Speaker 1: a transcendent spirit, a profound essence. I'm not just an
Speaker 1: insanely great basketball player, but one who, at forty years old,
Speaker 1: was this beginning to blossom. I think, Shannon, you were
Speaker 1: talking about that earlier is so true. He had so
Speaker 1: much to give, you know, he gave all he could
Speaker 1: on the court. Every possession he bowled like it was
Speaker 1: his last possession of his freaking life. That's how he
Speaker 1: played the game. He was taped up like a mummy
Speaker 1: by Gary VD on hundreds of occasions, and I'd see
Speaker 1: him in the lake, a locker room. I'd see in
Speaker 1: the training room with VD, and he was in such pain.
Speaker 1: But he knew, he knew people wanted to see him
Speaker 1: and see his lust for hoop. And he has such
Speaker 1: an incredible lust and desire for winning. You know. Thus,
Speaker 1: you know he evolved into the Mamba. But I knew
Speaker 1: Colbe when he was seventeen, twenty four years ago, when
Speaker 1: he first came to town from Philadelphia rookie on the Lakers.
Speaker 1: He was going to play summer ball in Long Beach
Speaker 1: at the pyramid. I called this hotel room, and I said, Colby,
Speaker 1: this is vic the brick looked to come and see
Speaker 1: you and say hi, and the cities are excited. And
Speaker 1: he said, sure, come on down. They came to his hotel.
Speaker 1: We're eating French fries together in his room, and he
Speaker 1: was iced up to his hip. Even at seventeen. He
Speaker 1: was preserving his body like like I had never seen before.
Speaker 1: He had such he was so in tune, you know,
Speaker 1: with with the whole you know, mind, body and soul
Speaker 1: of Hoop. But on the court, unparalleled love of the game,
Speaker 1: Harold Old desire to win, unparalleled love of the city
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, of the world. You know. He was
Speaker 1: the first to go to China to open up that
Speaker 1: bridge of harmony through hope. No no, no one had
Speaker 1: the you know, the wisdom and really the division of
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant. Everyone just saw him. He was he was
Speaker 1: a hardass. So you can't talk to this guy. But
Speaker 1: my my experience with Kobe was one of a young
Speaker 1: poet at seventeen. And when I first saw him at
Speaker 1: Long Beach, I'll tell room, I said, I'm in the
Speaker 1: presence of a poet. I knew I knew he was,
Speaker 1: you know, beyond basketball. He was. He was so strong,
Speaker 1: he was he had this iron will about him, this
Speaker 1: indomitable spirit I knew would transcend the game. And it has.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's done so much for basketball. But also
Speaker 1: you know when he retired a few years ago and
Speaker 1: who could get his last game when he dropped sixty
Speaker 1: on Utah, I mean, come on, I can barely move
Speaker 1: and said he was in pain. It was injured. He's
Speaker 1: still He knew the fans were there for him. He
Speaker 1: wanted to give you one last incredible memory. Indelible. It's indelible.
Speaker 1: His whole career is indelible. I was on the court
Speaker 1: with him his first big shot against Phoenix, the playoff game,
Speaker 1: and I was right behind him when he gave his
Speaker 1: first primal scream at the Downtown Hoopdo Joe. And I
Speaker 1: was right behind him in my poncho and my purple
Speaker 1: and gold fur and right behind him, you know, screaming,
Speaker 1: you were the one, you were the one. You were
Speaker 1: the way he were the way, and Kobe Bryant is
Speaker 1: the way. He's a gone among men. It's a gone
Speaker 1: among men. We've all been, you know, horrifically affected today.
Speaker 1: Not just called me the basketball player. I called me
Speaker 1: the person. He loved his four daughters and to have
Speaker 1: one have she should go down with him as this
Speaker 1: is this, you know, beyond a nightmare. I first heard it,
Speaker 1: you know, via reports, you know, the various you know
Speaker 1: media giants K five of course an turn K five
Speaker 1: T MZ. And I just started crying my eyes out
Speaker 1: and cried and cried because we all loved him. Some misunderstood,
Speaker 1: you know, everyone thought he was this crazy, crazy, hardass
Speaker 1: dude who with no emotions and basically that was a
Speaker 1: way to motivate himself. But with my with me, and
Speaker 1: I told you, you know, since he was seventeen, I
Speaker 1: could see, you know, his transcendence as a man. He
Speaker 1: was such an ancient soul in a seventeen year old body.
Speaker 1: And not not did he elevate the game of basketball,
Speaker 1: you know and spread it, you know, the good will
Speaker 1: you know, not just a China, but but everywhere you know,
Speaker 1: he's he used to speak in many languages after the
Speaker 1: game in this postgame interviews because of the international you know,
Speaker 1: grew up in Italy, you know, with Joe and when
Speaker 1: you know his father was Joe Bryant's Joe jelly Bean
Speaker 1: Bryant was a wonderful basketball player. And I, you know,
Speaker 1: I tenner and BASKETBA player in Europe very early. And
Speaker 1: you know called he grew up in in uh in Italy,
Speaker 1: you know, watching the videotapes of the NBA and getting inspired,
Speaker 1: you know, ten tho miles away and some crazy apartment
Speaker 1: in Rome and just basically building his psyche. But he
Speaker 1: was always so in tune with the game and so
Speaker 1: in tune with life. He loved his he loved his
Speaker 1: daughter so much. While crews were still working at the
Speaker 1: crash site thirty miles southeast in downtown Los Angeles, the
Speaker 1: annual Grammy Awards were about to go live at Staples Center.
Speaker 1: Here we are singer songwriter Alicia Keys together on music's
Speaker 1: biggest night, celebrating the artist that do it best. But
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, we're all feeling crazy sadness
Speaker 1: right now because earlier today Los Angeles, America and the
Speaker 1: whole wide world lost a hero. And we're literally standing
Speaker 1: here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built. A
Speaker 1: lot of people were scrambling behind the scenes at the
Speaker 1: Grammys that night, including Alicia Keys. She and the group
Speaker 1: boys two men were able to put together at the
Speaker 1: very last second a song to pay tribute to Kobe.
Speaker 1: The guitar and mass lead all wait the bed Hi
Speaker 1: and Not memo to be coming up in episode three.
Speaker 1: Our mission is not to just determine what happened, but
Speaker 1: why it happened and how it happened to prevent a
Speaker 1: similar accident from ever happening again. The NTSB is on
Speaker 1: scene and takes over the investigation, and still to come
Speaker 1: the Sheriff versus TMZ. The Death and Life of Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant is a production of KFI News at I Heeart Media,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles or the I Heart Podcast Network in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Gregory.