kevin-kinney

Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed a bill into law relating to public safety including crimes of failure to assist, abuse of a corpse, and interference with official acts.

State Senator Kevin Kinney (D) of Oxford advocated for this bill otherwise known as “Noah’s Law,” that was drafted following the drowning death of 15-year-old Noah Herring at Coralville Lake. Kinney shares that in 2020 three teens and an adult were present when Herring drowned, but none of them called 911, and they withheld information about his disappearance, delaying the discovery of his body for four days, “They did not report that he had drowned and wound up stealing his personal items and destroying others so that he could be not found and it took law enforcement four days to be able to figure out what had happened to him and ultimately he drowned.”

At the time there was no applicable charge to be filed against those involved for their failure to alert authorities. The law now states that if someone is reasonably able to alert authorities if someone is at risk of serious bodily injury and fails to do so can be convicted of a simple misdemeanor, and an aggravated misdemeanor if the incident results in a death. Kinney says it was an honor to work with the Herring family on this legislation, which turned a horrible tragedy into an opportunity to save lives.