On Monday California Governor Gavin Newsom approved a new legislation motivated by the helicopter crash that claimed the life of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and 7 others.
According to ABC 7, the law now makes it a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of deceased people at the scene of an accident or crime. This new measure will officially go into effect on January 1st and will result in a misdemeanor with a fine up to $1,000 per offense, if such photos are not used for law enforcement reasons.
As previously reported, earlier this year reports started to surface that deputies had taken graphic unauthorized photos at the scene of the accident, and the photos were allegedly being shared. Following the report, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that he had ordered for the images to be deleted.However, he also mentioned that the department has a policy against taking and sharing crime scene photos, but unfortunately that did not include accident scenes.
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Last week, Vanessa Bryant officially sued the L.A. County Sheriff for the leaked photos. The lawsuit stated, “Mrs. Bryant feels ill at the thought of strangers gawking at images of her deceased husband and child, and she lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online.”
The lawsuit also alleged that the photos that were taken at the scene were the topic of discussion within the department without any investigative purposes attached to them. The existence of the photos were exposed when a deputy allegedly showed them to a woman trying to impress her. That is when the bartender overheard the conversation and notified the department.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
