CA Governor Newsom signs Kobe Bryant Act [Video]

• A new law, dubbed “The Kobe Bryant Act of 2020,” makes it a crime for first responders to take photos of accident victims “outside of job duties.”
• The accident in January claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.
• Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, appealed for the crash site to be sealed but photos still appeared on social media.

NBA Legend Kobe Bryant, 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020. Not long after that day, photos of the crash site went viral on social media.  Thousands shared it as the world looked on in disbelief and grief.

Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, appealed personally to Sheriff Alex Villanueva to have the crash site sealed and legally filed actions against the department.

In a report by The Los Angeles Times, the LA County sheriff’s deputies themselves were the ones who took photos of the accident site and the victims, then circulated it.

According to the documents obtained by People, despite the appeal and the charges, “no fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies were at the scene snapping cell-phone photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches. As the Department would later admit, there was no investigative purpose for deputies to take pictures at the crash site. Rather, the deputies took photos for their own personal purposes.”

Allegedly, there were also two LA firefighters who took photos but were ordered to delete the photos.

The photos galvanized California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign into law AB 2655, which is set to prohibit first responders from taking photographs of deceased individuals “outside of job duties.”

Dubbed “The Kobe Bryant Act of 2020” by Assemblyman Mike A. Gipson, the bill would make it a crime, punishing violators with misdemeanor-level offenses.

The accident claimed the lives of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, Alyssa Altobelli, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and the pilot Ara Zobayan.

Source: Page Six