The following are excerpts from NBA star Kobe Bryant's interview with Eagle County
sheriff's investigators Doug Winters and Dan Loya the night after a
19-year-old employee of a Vail-area resort told police he had
sexually assaulted her.
The Vail Daily published a transcript of the interview from an audio recording sent anonymously to the newspaper. The newspaper said it edited the interview to remove profanity and graphic sexual descriptions. A source close to the prosecution said it appeared accurate.
Loya: "Did you have knee surgery today or ..."
Bryant: "Yes I did just today. (inaudible) Come on please."
Loya: "What they do, what they do?"
Bryant: "Um, cartilage."
Loya: "Cartilage?"
Bryant: "My bodyguards -- I got to, I got to tell them what's
going on, my biggest fear is my career and ... "
Winters: "I understand ..."
Bryant: "... my image, so."
Winters: "... very, very much so and we're trying to respect
that as much as we can, all right?"
Loya: "And this is how we work Kobe. We're not, we're not here
to destroy your career or your image, but we do have a serious
matter at hand that we'd like to resolve and it's all going to
depend on your cooperation and how you want to resolve it."
Bryant: "Well. Do I have to?"
Winters: "Well, that's up to you, I mean we'd like to find our
your side of the story, we'll get into the details of it, we'll
explain what's going on. Um, but that's all we want to do Kobe."
Loya: "And that's one of the reasons, and that's one of the
reasons, this is one of the reasons we're up here at this time of
night."
Bryant: "Ask me what, ask me something, ask me anything."
(Loya had asked Bryant how the woman showed him a tattoo on her
back.)
Bryant: "She had like a strap or whatever and she like lowered
it. I told her to turn around and she lowered it and she showed
me."
Winters: "OK, all right um, did anything happen in the room?"
Bryant: "Like what?"
Loya: "Uh, did you guys hug or kiss?"
Winters: "Kiss or hug?"
Bryant: "No."
Winters: "OK. Um. I'll be blunt and ask you. Did you have
sexual intercourse with her?"
Bryant: "No."
Winters: "... yet there is an allegation that it was an
unconsensual intercourse that occurred last night, OK. All right.
Hang on, OK, hang on, I understand you have every right to be
upset, OK, but you know, I'm giving you an opportunity to tell the
truth if something did happen, because I'm going to tell you now,
um, we're going to find out."
Bryant: "Is there any way I can settle this whatever it is, I
mean ... ?"
Winters: "Well, what do you mean by settle?"
Bryant: "If my wife, if my wife found out that anybody made any
type of allegations against me she would be infuriated."
Winters: "You going to be ready for the season?"
Bryant: "I don't know man, I don't even know if I'll be able to
play this season with this ... going on. If it becomes public I'll
lose my wife ..."
Loya: "How long have you been married?"
Bryant: "... and all my endorsements."
Loya: "How long have you been married?"
Bryant: "Two years. My wife and daughter, them mean everything
man, everything man, up and until now (inaudible)."
Loya: "Just be straight up, we're not going to tell your wife
or anything like that. Did you have sexual intercourse with her?"
Bryant: "Uh, this is what I need to know because uh I did have
sexual intercourse with her. Cause I was (inaudible)."
Winters: "And I understand."
Loya: "OK, was it consensual?"
Bryant: "It was totally consensual."
Loya: "What makes you believe, what makes you believe it was
consensual?"
Bryant: "`Cause she started kissing me, (inaudible) then she
bent over and (inaudible)."
Winters: "... do you think there's any possibility that at some
point during this entire incident that she said no and it just
happened to go on a little bit further and it just and then you
quit?"
Bryant: "No. I stopped (inaudible), I stopped."
Winters: "When did she, when did you stop, what, what made you
stop?"
Bryant: "Well I asked her about the ... thing and she was like
no, I don't know."
Loya: "How many times did you ask her?"
Bryant: "Once."
Winters: "OK, all right, OK. You said, when, did it stop at
that point?"
Bryant: "Um, did I stop? (inaudible) She went like this
(inaudible), I asked her if I could ... and she was like no. Um, I
thought she was cool, you know, I stopped. I stopped pumping and
uh, I just, I just stood there like this (inaudible) and um, then
she just moved like this."
Loya: "Is this, I don't mean to offend you in any way but is
this a habit of yours, that you cheat on your wife?"
Winters: "Has this ever happened before?"
Bryant: "Um, yes, with one other person. And she could actually
testify I do that um, I do the same thing, I hold her from the
back, I put my hands (inaudible)."
Loya: "And who's that other person?"
Bryant: "Her name is Michelle."
Loya: "And this is somebody you frequent or one time incident
or ...?"
Bryant: "No. She's a, she's a frequent (inaudible)."
Loya: "And your wife..."
Bryant: (Inaudible)
Loya: "Obviously your wife doesn't know about this?"
Bryant:" No. Nothing man, seriously."
Bryant: "... I can't believe this girl. What does she want from
me?"
Loya: "Do you want me to carry those for you, Kobe?"
(Apparently referring to Bryant's crutches.)
Bryant: "Yeah. What does she want, what does she want?"
Winters: "I don't think she wants anything."
Bryant: "Are you kidding me?"
Loya: "What are you willing to give her?"
Bryant: "She has to want, she has to want something (inaudible)
she has to want something."
Winters: "What do you mean she has to want something? I don't
understand."
Bryant: "She has to have a, she has to have a motive, to do,
she has to have a motive to do this."
Winters: "What would be, what do you think her motive is
then?"
Loya: "Are you willing to pay that if she is?"
Bryant: "I got to. I got to. I'm in the worst (edited)
situation."