Florida legislature will debate changing Good Samaritan laws

TALLAHASSEE, FL — A new bill filed for Florida’s upcoming legislative session would make it a crime to not help someone in an emergency.

The “Good Samaritan Act” was introduced by Rep. John Cortes. It would charge people who don’t call 9-1-1 in an emergency with a second degree misdemeanor.

Anyone convicted could be fined up to $500 under the bill.

The measure was crafted after a 2017 incident in Cocoa when a group to teenagers mocked and recorded a disabled man, 33-year old Jamel Dunn, as he drowned in a pond.

Nobody was charged in that incident, because there was no law on the books to charge anyone with.

The bill would have to pass thru the Florida House & Senate before becoming law. Governor DeSantis has not commented on the bill at all.