On May 20, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee approved a bill that would make it illegal for first responders to take pictures or record video of a deceased person at the scene of an accident or crime.
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced in March that eight of its deputies were responsible for sharing images taken at the site where retired NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna “GiGi” Bryant died in a helicopter crash.
On March 2, Sheriff Villanueva went on record to acknowledge that eight of his deputies participated in capturing and sharing graphic photos of the accident scene after the helicopter Bryant, his daughter and friends were traveling in crashed into a hillside on a foggy Sunday morning.
A few days after Bryant’s death, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA-30) introduced a bill in the United States Congress titled, “The Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act.”
Other Assemblymembers who voted yes on AB 2655 are: Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), who is the chair of the Public Safety Committee; Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda); Wendy Carrillo (D-Boyle Heights): Tyler Diep (R-Westminster): Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles): Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles); and Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland).
