Re: criminally negligent homicide? wrongful death?

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On 1/25/06, Tristan wrote:
There are 2 kinds of law: statutory and common law. There
is no common law duty to assist anyone in your scenario. I
don't know of any state that has a statute making it a crime
to not assist, but you're talking about the people's
republic of california, it might be different there.
(appologies to Califonians, just couldn't resist.) There
are laws to protect good samaritans if they mess up by
helping but I don't believe there are any laws that require
people to help even if it is with little personal risk. How
would one decide how much risk was enough to make it ok not
to help? How would risk be evaluated in an emergency
situation? See where I'm going? It may be morally wrong to
some people not to help their fellow man, but not to all
people. Maybe the person who died should haunt him instead
of the police arresting him?

> hi there,
> I'm looking for some legal details for some fiction I'm
> writing. Suppose a person witnesses a life-threatening
> event such as an auto accident. The witness could easily,
> and with little personal risk, have saved the life of the
> accident victim. Instead, the witness decides not to help,
> and as a result the victim dies. What, if anything, can
> this bad samaritan be charged with? If the laws about this
> differ by state, let's it takes place in California.
>
> Any and all ideas, references, explanations are
appreciated.
> Thanks.
> Tristan