Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce among stars at memorial for Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna and others killed in helicopter crash

Kobe Bryant’s wife was helped off stage by Michael Jordan at a celebrity-filled memorial for the NBA star killed in a chopper crash. It came as she sued the chopper’s owner. The arena where Bryant played featured a stage surrounded by thousands of red roses below the scoreboard showing images of Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter. Wearing a yellow pants suit, pop icon Beyonce opened proceedings with a rendition of her hit song “Halo.” TV host Jimmy Kimmel gave a tearful tribute to Kobe, Gianna, and the other victims. Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, gave a moving speech honouring her late daughter and husband. She was overcome with emotion and had to be helped offstage by basketball legend Michael Jordan. Other stars at the memorial included Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Gabrielle Union, Steph Curry and Shaquille O’Neal. Fans arriving for Monday’s public memorial service, which commenced at 10am Los Angeles time, were given a program only containing photos, a purple KB pin and a T-shirt with photos of the father and daughter. The concourse was a sea of purple, gold and black clothing. Dozens of fans took photos with a mural inside Staples Center of Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal after a championship win. Fan Janel Alexander, of Encino, said the mural brought back good memories of “a moment in time that was better than today.” While waiting for Kobe Bryant’s memorial services to begin in Los Angeles, fan Alyssa Shapiro said she was inspired to become a basketball player after watching countless Lakers games with her father, Rick Shapiro. The family’s love of the game and Bryant’s work in women’s sports prompted her to become a middle school girls’ basketball coach. Her team played against the team of Bryant’s daughter Gianna, who died with her father and seven others in a helicopter crash on January 26. Alyssa Shapiro said before the memorial service that she watched Bryant cheer for Gianna from the stands. She held homemade heart-shaped “Kobe” and “Gigi” signs ahead of the memorial service and said she “just wanted to thank him for being such an inspiration to me.” Aussie market dives after $1.5 trillion shock Hollywood stars react to Weinstein guilty verdict Car smashes into crowd ‘at full throttle’ Fan Bob Melendez, 72, has been a Lakers season ticket holder for 40 years. He said after seeing Bryant play for many years he could not imagine missing Monday’s memorial at Staples Center. His friend Tom Ling said he could not believe it when heard of Bryant’s death, alongside his daughter and seven others, on January 26. Bryant became active in film, television and writing after he retired from basketball in 2016. Hours before the service, Vanessa Bryant sued the owner of the helicopter that crashed in the fog. The wrongful-death lawsuit claimed that the pilot, Ara Zobayan, was careless and negligent by flying in cloudy conditions and should have aborted the flight that killed all nine people aboard. The lawsuit names Island Express Helicopters Inc., operator of the service, and Island Express Holding Corp., owner of the craft. It also targets pilot Ara Zobayan’s representative or successor, listed only as “Doe 1” until a name can be determined. Calls to Island Express Inc. seeking comment were not answered, and its voicemail was full. The lawsuit asserts Zobayan was negligent in eight different ways, including failing to properly assess the weather, flying into conditions he wasn’t cleared for and failing to control the helicopter. The NTSB hasn’t concluded what caused the crash on the outskirts of Los Angeles County but said there was no sign of mechanical failure. A final report isn’t expected for a year or so. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for Vanessa Bryant’s grief, sorrow, loss of companionship and funeral expenses, among other things. It also seeks punitive damages to “deter future wrongdoing,” the lawsuit said. Island Express Inc. issued a statement January 30 on its website saying the shock of the crash had prompted it to suspend service until it was appropriate for staff and customers. The company has had at least three previous helicopter crashes since 1985, two of them fatal, according to the NTSB’s accident database. KOBE CRASH PILOT ‘VIOLATED FLIGHT RULES’ Ara Zobayan in 2015 was denied clearance to fly an AS350 into the airspace because of reduced visibility and weather conditions, the Los Angeles Times reported. “Had Mr. Zobayan properly planned and reviewed current weather at LAX, he would have been able to anticipate the required action to transit … resulting in proper co-ordination,” the 2015 report said. “There are no indications that this is a repeated incident and there are no signs that this incident is a trend with Mr. Zobayan.” RELATED NEWS: Zobayan took responsibility for his mistake and was counselled by an FAA investigator afterwards, the FAA said in the report. Helicopter pilot Shawn Coyle told The Times the violation was considered minor and he did not know a pilot who had not violated a rule. “If that’s the only violation he’s ever had then I would say he’s pretty safe,” he said. Zobayan was attempting to climb out of a cloud layer on January 26 when the chartered helicopter dropped 1200 feet (400m) into a hillside in the LA suburb of Calabasas, killing everyone on board. Zobayan was the chief pilot for Island Express Helicopters Inc. at the time of the crash, the same company he flew for in 2015. Kurt Deetz, a former pilot for Island Express Helicopters, said: “You can’t request special VFR and then they deny you and you say, ‘Oh wait a minute, actually I’m VFR’. “That’s not how it works. It shows that perhaps his understanding of special VFR, as opposed to VFR, was cloudy.” Island Express reported it conducted additional ground and flight training with him after the 2015 incident. In 2015, he requested to continue flying using special visual flight rules (VFR), which would allow him to fly in suboptimal visibility conditions but was denied, unlike last month when he was granted the request. Kobe and Gigi will be honoured at a sold-out memorial Monday at Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the basketball legend spent his career as a Laker. The arena seats about 20,000 people for non-sports events. It has previously hosted memorials for Nipsey Hussle and Michael Jackson, the 2009 event for which 17,000 tickets were given away. The memorial fell on a Monday between two Lakers home games. The memorial was held several hours before a previously scheduled NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies.