Legislators call for 'Good Samaritan' law

KALAMAZOO (AP) - The beating death of an aspiring social worker in a bus station where at least five adults ignored the attack has prompted two legislators to draft a "Good Samaritan" law.

The legislation being drafted by state Sen. Dale Shugars (R-Portage) and Rep. Jerry Vander Roest (R-Galesburg) would require that people witnessing someone gravely injured immediately notify authorities.

The proposal is a response to the Aug. 17 beating death of Kevin Heisinger, 24.

He was headed home to Chicago from orientation at the University's School of Social Work when he was attacked.

Brian Williams, 40, of Ypsilanti has been charged in Heisinger's death and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Authorities have said Williams has suffered from schizophrenia for 20 years, and reportedly told his brother he heard voices telling him to kill.

He allegedly beat Heisinger to death in a restroom while at least five people sat within earshot of the attack and did not notify police.

No one is believed to have witnessed the attack.

But police said that several people had heard Heisinger cry "stop" and "help" - and one man went into the restroom, saw the victim lying in a pool of blood and walked out.

A second man found Heisinger unconscious and also left without calling for help.

A 9-year-old boy finally notified personnel at the bus terminal, where the city Department of Public Safety has a substation.

The adults later gave investigators no explanation for not helping Heisinger, police said.

Shugars hopes to introduce the law, patterned after similar measures in California and Minnesota, when the Legislature reconvenes Nov. 9.

"Senator Shugars was very upset at the lack of compassion to an individual who was being physically abused and ended up being murdered," Bea Raymond, the lawmaker's chief of staff, told the Kalamazoo Gazette in a report Saturday.

"I mean, just a simple scream for help might have stopped this individual's death. And it's sad that it took a child. And it was still too late," she added.

Some Michigan laws contain Good Samaritan language, but are narrower in scope than the measure being proposed by Shugars and Vander Roest.

One grants immunity from civil damages to health personnel who provide care at the scene of an emergency.

Other laws require care providers, teachers, social workers, counselors, nurses and law enforcement to immediately report concerns of abuse or neglect of elderly adults or children.

Kalamazoo County Prosecutor James Gregart said opponents of the proposed law might argue that government shouldn't legislate morality, but already does so by making murder, theft and sexual abuse illegal.

"I don't have the answer. There's no simple answer," Gregart said.

"But the issue has been framed by what happened over there" at the depot," he said.