The rape allegations settled out of court were pretty solid. Not only did Kobe admit in a statement that the encounter might not have been "consensual" there was also a volume of circumstantial medical evidence consistent with rape.
Don't necessarily think that could or should define a champion athlete completely, but if you put yourself in the position of the survivor (whose name, as far as I know, is not known) she probably wouldn't be too keen on seeing only unqualified hagiographies of her attacker.
I also feel sorry for the other seven people on the helicopter, who haven't rated a mention in the response. Apparently the pilot was warned for flying too low to get under cloud cover so as to fly without instruments, and might have scraped a hilltop.
