{"id":134,"date":"2017-10-16T15:35:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T19:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearwatercriminallawyer.net\/?p=134"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:53:08","slug":"florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Senate Introduces Proposed Good Samaritan Law, Criminalizing Social Media Activity Under Certain Circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Good Samaritan laws are controversial because there&#8217;s tremendous disagreement over whether a person should have a duty to render aid to another person or face criminal prosecution. This summer, a disturbing news story reported that a group of teenagers mocked a disabled man in Coco, Florida as he drowned in a retention pond. The teens also filmed the encounter and uploaded it to social media. The teens did not attempt to render aid or call for help. The story made national news because of the actions of the teenagers. Many called for the teens to face Florida criminal prosecution for their actions, or inaction, while the man drowned.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/florida-news\/good-samaritan-proposal-offered-in-florida-senate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">response <\/a>to this incident, the Florida legislature is considering a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2018\/516\/BillText\/Filed\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposed law<\/a> that requires a person at the scene of an emergency to render aid or call for assistance if confronted with an &#8220;endangered person.&#8221; The term &#8220;endangered person&#8221; means a person who is in\u00a0imminent danger of, or who has\u00a0suffered, grave physical harm. A person does not have a duty to an endangered person if it would put that person in danger or someone else is already rendering aid.<\/p>\n<p>A violation of this proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor. However, as mentioned earlier, in response to the incident in Coco, Florida, if a person video-records the person in danger and uploads it to social media, that person is eligible for a third-degree felony. In addition, a person who renders aid under this proposed law would receive immunity from civil damages for any injuries that occur from rendering aid.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/#more-134\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Good Samaritan laws are controversial because there&#8217;s tremendous disagreement over whether a person should have a duty to render aid to another person or face criminal prosecution. This summer, a disturbing news story reported that a group of teenagers mocked a disabled man in Coco, Florida as he drowned in a retention pond. The teens [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-defense"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Good Samaritan Law Risks in Florida Appeals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on senate introduces proposed good. See how this ruling defense. Get help and plan your.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Good Samaritan Law Risks in Florida Appeals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Your case can turn on one detail. A criminal charge case can hinge on senate introduces proposed good. See how this ruling defense. 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Get help and plan your.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"headline":"Florida Senate Introduces Proposed Good Samaritan Law, Criminalizing Social Media Activity Under Certain Circumstances","datePublished":"2017-10-16T19:35:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:53:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/"},"wordCount":512,"articleSection":["Criminal Defense"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-senate-introduces-proposed-good-samaritan-law-criminalizing-social-media-activity-certain-circumstances\/","name":"Good Samaritan Law Risks in Florida Appeals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-16T19:35:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:53:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"description":"Your case can turn on one detail. 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